Linux Kernel up to 7.0-rc4 IRQ mana_hwc_destroy_channel null pointer dereference

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0-rc4. It has been rated as critical. This affects the function mana_hwc_destroy_channel of the component IRQ Handler. This manipulation causes null pointer dereference. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-23454. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0-rc4. Affected by this vulnerability is the function mana_hwc_destroy_channel of the component IRQ Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: mana: fix use-after-free in mana_hwc_destroy_channel() by reordering teardown A potential race condition exists in mana_hwc_destroy_channel() where hwc->caller_ctx is freed before the HWC's Completion Queue (CQ) and Event Queue (EQ) are destroyed. This allows an in-flight CQ interrupt handler to dereference freed memory, leading to a use-after-free or NULL pointer dereference in mana_hwc_handle_resp(). mana_smc_teardown_hwc() signals the hardware to stop but does not synchronize against IRQ handlers already executing on other CPUs. The IRQ synchronization only happens in mana_hwc_destroy_cq() via mana_gd_destroy_eq() -> mana_gd_deregister_irq(). Since this runs after kfree(hwc->caller_ctx), a concurrent mana_hwc_rx_event_handler() can dereference freed caller_ctx (and rxq->msg_buf) in mana_hwc_handle_resp(). Fix this by reordering teardown to reverse-of-creation order: destroy the TX/RX work queues and CQ/EQ before freeing hwc->caller_ctx. This ensures all in-flight interrupt handlers complete before the memory they access is freed.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-23454 since 01/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.78, 6.18.20, 6.19.10 or 7.0-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch e23bf444512cb85d76012080a76cd1f9e967448e/249e905571583a434d4ea8d6f92ccc0eef337115/2b001901f689021acd7bf2dceed74a1bdcaaa1f9/afdb1533eb9c05432aeb793a7280fa827c502f5c/05d345719d85b927cba74afac4d5322de3aa4256/fa103fc8f56954a60699a29215cb713448a39e87 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.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.1.166
• 6.6.129
• 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
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.12.75
• 6.12.76
• 6.12.77
• 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
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3
• 6.19.4
• 6.19.5
• 6.19.6
• 6.19.7
• 6.19.8
• 6.19.9
• 7.0-rc1
• 7.0-rc2
• 7.0-rc3
• 7.0-rc4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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