Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's support for Apple Silicon hardware management. A technical error in how the system handles internal locks could lead to system instability or crashes. This primarily affects users running Linux on Apple hardware, potentially allowing a local user to cause a denial-of-service.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in the 'macsmc' Multi-Function Device (MFD) driver within the Linux kernel due to an uninitialized mutex in the 'apple_smc' structure. The root cause is the missing 'mutex_init()' call in the 'apple_smc_probe()' function. This oversight can lead to NULL pointer dereferences when 'apple_smc_read()' is called by sub-device probe functions. An attacker with local access could potentially trigger this condition to cause a kernel panic (Denial of Service). The issue has been resolved in stable kernel updates.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 6.17 to 6.18.16, 6.19 to 6.19.6
Timeline
- 2026-05-06: disclosed
- 2026-05-06: advisory
- 2026-01-22: patched