Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9 r8152 mutex_lock deadlock

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9. This impacts the function mutex_lock of the component r8152. The manipulation results in deadlock. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-23188. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9. Affected is the function mutex_lock of the component r8152. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a deadlock vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-833. The product contains multiple threads or executable segments that are waiting for each other to release a necessary lock, resulting in deadlock. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: usb: r8152: fix resume reset deadlock rtl8152 can trigger device reset during reset which potentially can result in a deadlock: **** DPM device timeout after 10 seconds; 15 seconds until panic **** Call Trace: <TASK> schedule+0x483/0x1370 schedule_preempt_disabled+0x15/0x30 __mutex_lock_common+0x1fd/0x470 __rtl8152_set_mac_address+0x80/0x1f0 dev_set_mac_address+0x7f/0x150 rtl8152_post_reset+0x72/0x150 usb_reset_device+0x1d0/0x220 rtl8152_resume+0x99/0xc0 usb_resume_interface+0x3e/0xc0 usb_resume_both+0x104/0x150 usb_resume+0x22/0x110 The problem is that rtl8152 resume calls reset under tp->control mutex while reset basically re-enters rtl8152 and attempts to acquire the same tp->control lock once again. Reset INACCESSIBLE device outside of tp->control mutex scope to avoid recursive mutex_lock() deadlock.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-23188 since 01/13/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299119 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23188), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.70 or 6.18.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 61c8091b7937f91f9bc0b7f6b578de270fe35dc7/1b2efc593dca99d8e8e6f6d6c7ccd9a972679702/6d06bc83a5ae8777a5f7a81c32dd75b8d9b2fe04 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 (299119) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0421). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel

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
• 6.12.69
• 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
• 6.18.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

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