CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98496

Low risk· EPSS 9%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.20%

9th percentile - higher than 9% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, airoha_npu_remove() in the net: airoha: npu driver calls cancel_work_sync() on wdt_work, but the watchdog IRQ that queues it is freed only after .remove() returns. The handler can re-queue work that dereferences freed memory of the airoha_npu struct.

Risk Assessment

Late work execution may dereference freed memory (use-after-free), causing a system crash or kernel memory corruption.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version registering the work with devm_work_autocancel() before devm_request_irq() and dropping .remove().

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: airoha: npu: cancel wdt_work after releasing the WDT IRQ airoha_npu_remove() calls cancel_work_sync() on each core's wdt_work, but the watchdog IRQ that queues it is requested with devm_request_irq() and is freed only after .remove() returns. airoha_npu_wdt_handler() can therefore schedule_work() again once the cancel has returned. struct airoha_npu, which contains the work, is devm_kzalloc()'d and is freed in that same unwind, so the late work dereferences freed memory. Register the work with devm_work_autocancel() before devm_request_irq() and drop .remove(). Devres runs in reverse order, so the IRQ is freed before cancel_work_sync(), including when probe fails. A cancel left in .remove() cannot get that order. Initializing the work first also stops a pending watchdog interrupt from queuing an uninitialized work item. Probe currently calls INIT_WORK() only after devm_request_irq(). This issue was identified during our ongoing static-analysis research while reviewing kernel code.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS