CVE-2026-45938
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: power: supply: pm8916_lbc: Fix use-after-free in power_supply_changed() Using the `devm_` variant for requesting IRQ _before_ the `devm_` variant for allocating/registering the `power_supply` handle, means that the `power_supply` handle will be deallocated/unregistered _before_ the interrupt handler (since `devm_` naturally deallocates in reverse allocation order). This means that during removal, there is a race condition where an interrupt can fire just _after_ the `power_supply` handle has been freed, *but* just _before_ the corresponding unregistration of the IRQ handler has run. This will lead to the IRQ handler calling `power_supply_changed()` with a freed `power_supply` handle. Which usually crashes the system or otherwise silently corrupts the memory... Note that there is a similar situation which can also happen during `probe()`; the possibility of an interrupt firing _before_ registering the `power_supply` handle. This would then lead to the nasty situation of using the `power_supply` handle *uninitialized* in `power_supply_changed()`. Fix this racy use-after-free by making sure the IRQ is requested _after_ the registration of the `power_supply` handle.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.7
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.12.75,
6.18.14,
6.19.4,
7.0
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-45938 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/08e674e9862a2db46fb234eb7c5442455ece0131
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7508129978ae1e2ed9b0410396abc05def9c4eb
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PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d7d31fc99d248d5f47588f50dce5c7599c991c6a
Frequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-45938?
CVE-2026-45938 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.7 onward and has been patched in 6.12.75, 6.18.14, 6.19.4 and others. CVE-2026-45938 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-45938?
Yes — CVE-2026-45938 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.12.75, 6.18.14, 6.19.4 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.7 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-45938 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-45938 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.