In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io-wq: order the exit bit against worker creation task work io_wq_exit_workers() cancels task work for queued worker creation with task_work_cancel_match(). That has a plain load of task->task_works. io_queue_worker_create() adds the new entry and tests IO_WQ_BIT_EXIT to cancel it if the workqueue is already on its way out. That must be ordered. task_work_add() has a full barrier via cmpxchg(). But io_wq_exit_start() sets the bit with set_bit() which doesn't have any memory ordering. So afaict, on weakly ordered architectures the exiting task may load task_works before the store of the bit is visible. The other side tests th