Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-89738

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: at91_udc: drain polled-VBUS timer/work before udc is freed In polled-VBUS mode (board.vbus_pin && board.vbus_polled), probe arms a self-restarting cycle: at91_vbus_timer() schedules vbus_timer_work, and at91_vbus_timer_work() calls at91_vbus_update() and re-arms the timer via mod_timer(). Both recover the same udc through container_of and dereference it on every iteration. Neither teardown path cancels this cycle. udc is devm-allocated, so it is freed after at91udc_remove() returns, and is likewise freed when probe fails and devres runs. A timer callback or work item that is pending or running at either point dereferences the freed udc. Add at91_udc_shutdown_vbus_timer() and call it from at91udc_remove() and from the usb_add_gadget_udc() failure path in probe; the remaining probe error paths fail before the timer is armed. timer_shutdown_sync() waits for a running callback and clears timer->function, which makes the work handler's mod_timer() a permanent no-op; cancel_work_sync() then drains any pending or running work whose re-arm attempt now does nothing. The timer must be shut down first, since cancelling the work alone would let the timer re-queue it. The guard mirrors probe: in IRQ mode the timer and work_struct are never initialized. This does not require a fault; a normal driver unbind can interleave with an already queued work item. This issue was found by an in-house static analysis tool.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (8.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 9th percentile — 8.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-89738: held from 0.002 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 2.6.36

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-89738?
CVE-2026-89738 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-09-11.
How severe is CVE-2026-89738?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.