Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) driver. If an error occurs during the initialization of the SMBus interface, a background process may continue to run indefinitely instead of being properly shut down. This could lead to minor resource leaks or system instability in specific error scenarios, though it generally requires local access to trigger.
Technical details
A resource management vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's IPMI SSIF (SMBus Interface) driver within `drivers/char/ipmi/ipmi_ssif.c`. The root cause is a failure to stop the `ssif_info->thread` kthread if an error occurs after its creation but before the main IPMI code successfully starts the interface. This occurs during the `ssif_probe` sequence. An attacker with the ability to trigger probe failures or specific error conditions during driver initialization could cause the kernel to leak thread resources. The fix ensures `kthread_stop` is called and the thread pointer is nullified during error handling in the probe function.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel All versions prior to the fix in ipmi:ssif
Timeline
- 2026-04-13: patched: Initial patch authored by Corey Minyard
- 2026-05-27: disclosed: CVE published in NVD