CVE-2025-68807

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

block: fix race between wbt_enable_default and IO submission

When wbt_enable_default() is moved out of queue freezing in elevator_change(), it can cause the wbt inflight counter to become negative (-1), leading to hung tasks in the writeback path. Tasks get stuck in wbt_wait() because the counter is in an inconsistent state.

The issue occurs because wbt_enable_default() could race with IO submission, allowing the counter to be decremented before proper initialization. This manifests as:

rq_wait[0]: inflight: -1 has_waiters: True

rwb_enabled() checks the state, which can be updated exactly between wbt_wait() (rq_qos_throttle()) and wbt_track()(rq_qos_track()), then the inflight counter will become negative.

And results in hung task warnings like: task:kworker/u24:39 state:D stack:0 pid:14767 Call Trace: rq_qos_wait+0xb4/0x150 wbt_wait+0xa9/0x100 __rq_qos_throttle+0x24/0x40 blk_mq_submit_bio+0x672/0x7b0 ...

Fix this by:

1. Splitting wbt_enable_default() into:

   • __wbt_enable_default(): Returns true if wbt_init() should be called
   • wbt_enable_default(): Wrapper for existing callers (no init)
   • wbt_init_enable_default(): New function that checks and inits WBT

2. Using wbt_init_enable_default() in blk_register_queue() to ensure proper initialization during queue registration

3. Move wbt_init() out of wbt_enable_default() which is only for enabling disabled wbt from bfq and iocost, and wbt_init() isn't needed. Then the original lock warning can be avoided.

4. Removing the ELEVATOR_FLAG_ENABLE_WBT_ON_EXIT flag and its handling code since it's no longer needed

This ensures WBT is properly initialized before any IO can be submitted, preventing the counter from going negative.