Is CVE-2026-90590 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-90590 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-90590?

Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 9 November 2026.

How is CVE-2026-90590 attacked?

It is attacked from the adjacent network or with local access, in device firmware.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-90590?

Check whether you run NXP ENET-QOS Ethernet driver. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-90590: NXP ENET QoS Ethernet driver denial of service via link flap

CVE-2026-90590 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2026-11-09

The NXP ENET QoS Ethernet driver, used in embedded systems to manage network communication, has a flaw where a momentary loss of network link can permanently disable transmission on that interface. An attacker with physical or administrative access to the network link (such as power-cycling a switch port) can trigger this condition and leave the device unable to send any network traffic—including critical functions like DHCP renewals and ARP replies—until the device is rebooted.

Vendors: NXP.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-90590 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-90590 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-90590?: Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 9 November 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: NXP ENET QoS Ethernet driver.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-90590?: Yes: fixed in <UNKNOWN>. Until then: Configure the transmit watchdog timeout via CONFIG_ETH_NXP_ENET_QOS_TX_TIMEOUT_MS to ensure non-completing DMA operations are reclaimed and the transmit slot is released. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-90590 attacked?: It is attacked from the adjacent network or with local access, in device firmware.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-90590?: Check whether you run NXP ENET-QOS Ethernet driver. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

Fixed in: <UNKNOWN>

Configure the transmit watchdog timeout via CONFIG_ETH_NXP_ENET_QOS_TX_TIMEOUT_MS to ensure non-completing DMA operations are reclaimed and the transmit slot is released.

Technical details

The driver uses a binary semaphore to serialize transmit operations, but fails to release it when the link goes down during active DMA transmission. The PHY callback only signals carrier loss without stopping DMA or releasing the pending frame, and no watchdog timeout exists to recover. Once triggered, every subsequent transmit call returns -EBUSY, permanently blocking all outbound traffic on that interface even after link restoration.

Affected products

NXP ENET QoS Ethernet driver

Timeline

2026-11-09: disclosed

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