Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Intel Storage Control Unit (ISCI) driver could allow a local user to cause a system crash. The issue occurs when a storage device is removed or the driver is unloaded, leading to a memory error known as a use-after-free. This primarily impacts system availability and stability.
Technical details
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel ISCI (Intel C600 Series Chipset Storage Control Unit) driver within the device removal path. The root cause is a race condition where the completion tasklet is not properly killed before the host structure (ihost) is freed. Specifically, isci_host_deinit() fails to call tasklet_kill() after wait_for_stop(), allowing interrupt handlers to potentially requeue the tasklet and dereference freed memory (ihost->smu_registers). This can be triggered during device removal or module unloading. Patches have been released across multiple stable kernel branches to ensure tasklet_kill() is called after the scheduling source is quiesced.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 6f231dda6808 to 1412995e10c7
Timeline
- 2026-04-19: other: Patch authored
- 2026-06-01: patched: Patch committed to stable tree
- 2026-07-19: disclosed: CVE published
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1412995e10c74644b47f242aea6e4f3d4180e806
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/309c6058622d080fe8c2fab87c30da82d834d989
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d40f2f103bb30f52f3dbadbe2c3fdf274a9763c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a83d3e4daba40d49324cec1c51ed261e1ea48cf1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab2266601a875982f2d2033f41e070a6d5e615e2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b52a8d52c3125ec9a93106ed816582368de34426
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b9ff8631006233ba246828ac70409d2cb2da38d3