CVE-2026-64376
Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware_loader: fix device reference leak in firmware_upload_register() firmware_upload_register() -> fw_create_instance() -> device_initialize() After fw_create_instance() succeeds, the lifetime of the embedded struct device is expected to be managed through the device core reference counting, since fw_create_instance() has already called device_initialize(). In firmware_upload_register(), if alloc_lookup_fw_priv() fails after fw_create_instance() succeeds, the code reaches free_fw_sysfs and frees fw_sysfs directly instead of releasing the device reference with put_device(). This may leave the reference count of the embedded struct device unbalanced, resulting in a refcount leak. The issue was identified by a static analysis tool I developed and confirmed by manual review. Fix this by using put_device(fw_dev) in the failure path and letting fw_dev_release() handle the final cleanup, instead of freeing the instance directly from the error path.
Severity
MEDIUM
CVSS score
5.5
(v3.1)
Vulnerability status
Analyzed
Source identifier
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Published
2026-07-25 10:17:20.717000
Last modified
2026-11-06 17:18:52.997000
View original CVE JSON
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"sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"published": "2026-07-25T10:17:20.717",
"lastModified": "2026-11-06T17:18:52.997",
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"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nfirmware_loader: fix device reference leak in firmware_upload_register()\n\nfirmware_upload_register()\n -> fw_create_instance()\n -> device_initialize()\n\nAfter fw_create_instance() succeeds, the lifetime of the embedded struct\ndevice is expected to be managed through the device core reference\ncounting, since fw_create_instance() has already called\ndevice_initialize().\n\nIn firmware_upload_register(), if alloc_lookup_fw_priv() fails after\nfw_create_instance() succeeds, the code reaches free_fw_sysfs and frees\nfw_sysfs directly instead of releasing the device reference with\nput_device(). This may leave the reference count of the embedded struct\ndevice unbalanced, resulting in a refcount leak.\n\nThe issue was identified by a static analysis tool I developed and\nconfirmed by manual review. Fix this by using put_device(fw_dev) in the\nfailure path and letting fw_dev_release() handle the final cleanup,\ninstead of freeing the instance directly from the error path."
}
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