CVE-2026-97996
UnknownSummary
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's unregister_virtio_device() function. After device_unregister() is called, the memory holding the virtio_device object may be freed, and virtio_debug_device_exit() then reads the debugfs_dir field from that freed object. The affected transports are virtio_mmio, virtio_vdpa, virtio_uml, mlxbf-tmfifo, and virtio_ccw.
Risk Assessment
A local attacker or administrator could trigger a read of freed memory while unbinding a virtio device, potentially leading to data exposure, kernel crash, or denial of service. Exploitation requires the ability to operate on virtio devices in the system.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that removes debugfs entries before the device is freed. If updating is not possible, restrict the ability to unbind virtio devices to trusted users.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-98162Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the smb2_tree_connect() function of the SMB server (ksmbd) leaks a tree connection. When ksmbd_iov_pin_rsp() fails, the newly created tree connection is not disconnected, leading to a resource leak.
- CVE-2026-98161Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the nvdimm (pmem) pmem_submit_bio() function records a REQ_PREFLUSH error but continues to copy bio data and can later overwrite the error with a successful REQ_FUA flush. This allows data writes to run after a failed preflush and can complete the bio successfully despite the failed ordering barrier.
- CVE-2026-98160Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the staging rtl8723bs driver's rtw_sdio_if1_init() function frees padapter->HalData with kfree(), even though it was allocated via vzalloc(). Using kfree() to release a vmalloc-backed buffer can lead to memory corruption.
- CVE-2026-100079Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the USB Type-C (ucsi) subsystem's ucsi_register() creates per-instance debugfs entries, but ucsi_unregister() keeps them until ucsi_destroy(). Drivers like ucsi_glink that unregister/register the same UCSI instance across remoteproc restart then try to create an already existing debugfs directory.
- CVE-2026-100078Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the iwlwifi (mei) driver's iwl_mei_write_cyclic_buf() function receives an incorrect first argument — the q_head pointer is passed instead of cldev. The bug has been fixed.
- CVE-2026-100077Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the drm/msm driver does not safely retire a hung submit before GPU recovery completes. Retiring the submit triggers BO free, which can result in GPU pagefaults since the GPU may be actively accessing those BOs.
- CVE-2026-100074Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a bug was fixed where the BPF_REFCOUNT field was not marked as unique, although it should be. The fix addresses this oversight.
- CVE-2026-100073Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a bug in the ext4 filesystem related to transaction overflow during writeback was fixed. A previous fix was too eager in reducing reserved transaction credits, leading to insufficient reservation in some corner cases. The fix uses ext4_meta_trans_blocks() for a correct upper bound estimate.
- CVE-2026-100072Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a problem in the ACPI subsystem was fixed where the use of acpi_get_first_physical_node() in acpi_platform_fill_resource() and acpi_create_platform_device() was unsafe because the returned device could be freed at any time. The fix replaces it with acpi_bus_get_primary_device() and adjusts the code to call it only once.
- CVE-2026-100071Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a memory leak in the HSR (High-availability Seamless Redundancy) module was fixed. When hsr_dev_finalize() fails after registering an RX handler, dynamic nodes learned in that window are not released. The fix frees both dynamic databases in the error unwind path.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: virtio: fix use-after-free in unregister_virtio_device() device_unregister() is device_del() plus put_device(). When the caller holds no extra reference, that drops the last one and runs the release callback, which for several transports frees the memory the embedded struct virtio_device sits in. unregister_virtio_device() then calls virtio_debug_device_exit(), which reads dev->debugfs_dir out of the freed object. Affected transports are the ones whose release callback frees and whose remove path takes no reference: virtio_mmio, virtio_vdpa, virtio_uml, mlxbf-tmfifo and virtio_ccw. virtio_pci is unaffected because virtio_pci_remove() brackets the call with get_device() and put_device(). Remove the debugfs entries before the device can go away. They are only accessed through the protected debugfs interface, so debugfs_remove_recursive() waits for in-progress file operations before returning. Tearing them down while the device is still alive is therefore safe. Reproduced on User-Mode Linux with CONFIG_KASAN and CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG by unbinding a virtio-uml device: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in virtio_debug_device_exit+0x36/0x4d Read of size 8 at addr 00000000616e0b10 by task init/1 __asan_report_load8_noabort virtio_debug_device_exit+0x36/0x4d unregister_virtio_device+0x48/0x75 virtio_uml_remove platform_remove device_release_driver_internal unbind_store Freed by task 1: kfree virtio_uml_release_dev device_release kobject_put put_device device_unregister With this applied, the report is gone and unbind is clean.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS