CVE-2026-97996
Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.
Description
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.
View original CVE JSON
{
"id": "CVE-2026-97996",
"sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"published": "2026-09-25T11:17:27.880",
"lastModified": "2026-10-19T10:17:51.080",
"vulnStatus": "Received",
"cveTags": [],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nvirtio: fix use-after-free in unregister_virtio_device()\n\ndevice_unregister() is device_del() plus put_device(). When the caller\nholds no extra reference, that drops the last one and runs the release\ncallback, which for several transports frees the memory the embedded\nstruct virtio_device sits in. unregister_virtio_device() then calls\nvirtio_debug_device_exit(), which reads dev->debugfs_dir out of the freed\nobject.\n\nAffected transports are the ones whose release callback frees and whose\nremove path takes no reference: virtio_mmio, virtio_vdpa, virtio_uml,\nmlxbf-tmfifo and virtio_ccw. virtio_pci is unaffected because\nvirtio_pci_remove() brackets the call with get_device() and put_device().\n\nRemove the debugfs entries before the device can go away. They are only\naccessed through the protected debugfs interface, so\ndebugfs_remove_recursive() waits for in-progress file operations before\nreturning. Tearing them down while the device is still alive is therefore\nsafe.\n\nReproduced on User-Mode Linux with CONFIG_KASAN and CONFIG_VIRTIO_DEBUG\nby unbinding a virtio-uml device:\n\n BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in virtio_debug_device_exit+0x36/0x4d\n Read of size 8 at addr 00000000616e0b10 by task init/1\n __asan_report_load8_noabort\n virtio_debug_device_exit+0x36/0x4d\n unregister_virtio_device+0x48/0x75\n virtio_uml_remove\n platform_remove\n device_release_driver_internal\n unbind_store\n\n Freed by task 1:\n kfree\n virtio_uml_release_dev\n device_release\n kobject_put\n put_device\n device_unregister\n\nWith this applied, the report is gone and unbind is clean."
}
],
"affected": [
{
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"affectedData": [
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/virtio/virtio.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "96a8326d69fffd7e8c2eb737dc060d8009a33b39",
"lessThan": "951cad50cba89e736afdee4a730e0e52f9245c9b",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "96a8326d69fffd7e8c2eb737dc060d8009a33b39",
"lessThan": "77dbd10a701a30fdfea5c3bb7a29163128f9a9c7",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "96a8326d69fffd7e8c2eb737dc060d8009a33b39",
"lessThan": "caf042153016d651b55d0fb4a63cdf7d0d23dee2",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "96a8326d69fffd7e8c2eb737dc060d8009a33b39",
"lessThan": "3f9a0fceb730f5107d52421ead5568eae25a0049",
"versionType": "git",
"status": "affected"
}
]
},
{
"vendor": "Linux",
"product": "Linux",
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/virtio/virtio.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"versions": [
{
"version": "6.10",
"status": "affected"
},
{
"version": "0",
"lessThan": "6.10",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "6.12.111",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.12.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "6.18.53",
"lessThanOrEqual": "6.18.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.2.7",
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
"versionType": "semver",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"version": "7.3",
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix",
"status": "unaffected"
}
]
}
]
}
],
"metrics": {},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3f9a0fceb730f5107d52421ead5568eae25a0049",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77dbd10a701a30fdfea5c3bb7a29163128f9a9c7",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/951cad50cba89e736afdee4a730e0e52f9245c9b",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/caf042153016d651b55d0fb4a63cdf7d0d23dee2",
"source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
}
]
}