Linux Kernel up to 6.12.68/6.18.8 gpio mutex_unlock use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.68/6.18.8. Impacted is the function mutex_unlock of the component gpio. Such manipulation leads to use after free. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-23158. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.68/6.18.8 and classified as critical. Affected by this issue is the function mutex_unlock of the component gpio. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: virtuser: fix UAF in configfs release path The gpio-virtuser configfs release path uses guard(mutex) to protect the device structure. However, the device is freed before the guard cleanup runs, causing mutex_unlock() to operate on freed memory. Specifically, gpio_virtuser_device_config_group_release() destroys the mutex and frees the device while still inside the guard(mutex) scope. When the function returns, the guard cleanup invokes mutex_unlock(&dev->lock), resulting in a slab use-after-free. Limit the mutex lifetime by using a scoped_guard() only around the activation check, so that the lock is released before mutex_destroy() and kfree() are called.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-23158 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 05/05/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299327 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23158), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.69 or 6.18.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 815a8e3bf72811d402b30bd4a53cde5e9df7a563/7bec90f605cfb138006f5ba575f2310593347110/53ad4a948a4586359b841d607c08fb16c5503230 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (299327) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0421). If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.

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