CVE-2026-31667

Input: uinput - fix circular locking dependency with ff-core

State
Published
Severity
7.8 High
Published
Apr 24, 2026
Updated
Oct 19, 2026
Reserved
Mar 9, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

Input: uinput - fix circular locking dependency with ff-core

A lockdep circular locking dependency warning can be triggered reproducibly when using a force-feedback gamepad with uinput (for example, playing ELDEN RING under Wine with a Flydigi Vader 5 controller):

ff->mutex -> udev->mutex -> input_mutex -> dev->mutex -> ff->mutex

The cycle is caused by four lock acquisition paths:

1. ff upload: input_ff_upload() holds ff->mutex and calls uinput_dev_upload_effect() -> uinput_request_submit() -> uinput_request_send(), which acquires udev->mutex.

2. device create: uinput_ioctl_handler() holds udev->mutex and calls uinput_create_device() -> input_register_device(), which acquires input_mutex.

3. device register: input_register_device() holds input_mutex and calls kbd_connect() -> input_register_handle(), which acquires dev->mutex.

4. evdev release: evdev_release() calls input_flush_device() under dev->mutex, which calls input_ff_flush() acquiring ff->mutex.

Fix this by introducing a new state_lock spinlock to protect udev->state and udev->dev access in uinput_request_send() instead of acquiring udev->mutex. The function only needs to atomically check device state and queue an input event into the ring buffer via uinput_dev_event() -- both operations are safe under a spinlock (ktime_get_ts64() and wake_up_interruptible() do not sleep). This breaks the ff->mutex -> udev->mutex link since a spinlock is a leaf in the lock ordering and cannot form cycles with mutexes.

To keep state transitions visible to uinput_request_send(), protect writes to udev->state in uinput_create_device() and uinput_destroy_device() with the same state_lock spinlock.

Additionally, move init_completion(&request->done) from uinput_request_send() to uinput_request_submit() before uinput_request_reserve_slot(). Once the slot is allocated, uinput_flush_requests() may call complete() on it at any time from the destroy path, so the completion must be initialised before the request becomes visible.

Lock ordering after the fix:

ff->mutex -> state_lock (spinlock, leaf) udev->mutex -> state_lock (spinlock, leaf) udev->mutex -> input_mutex -> dev->mutex -> ff->mutex (no back-edge)

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HLinux

Weaknesses

  • CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 71a9729f412e2c692a35c542e14b706fb342927fAffected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 271ee71a1917b89f6d73ec82dd091c33d92ee617Affected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 974f7b138c3a96dd5cd53d1b33409cd7b2229dc6Affected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 546c18a14924eb521fe168d916d7ce28f1e13c1dAffected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before a3d6c9c053c9c605651508569230ead633b13f76Affected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 1e09dfbb4f5d20ee111f92325a00f85778a5f328Affected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 1534661043c434b81cfde26b97a2fb2460329cf0Affected
  • ff462551235d8d7d843a005950bc90924fcedede to before 4cda78d6f8bf2b700529f2fbccb994c3e826d7c2Affected
LinuxLinux
  • 2.6.19Affected
  • before 2.6.19Not affected
  • 5.10.253 through 5.10.*Not affected
  • 5.15.203 through 5.15.*Not affected
  • 6.1.169 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.6.135 through 6.6.*Not affected
  • 6.12.82 through 6.12.*Not affected
  • 6.18.23 through 6.18.*Not affected
  • 6.19.13 through 6.19.*Not affected
  • 7.0 and laterNot affected

References

Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.