Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5 DT Parser clk.c pm_runtime_disable privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5. It has been declared as critical. The affected element is the function pm_runtime_disable of the file /usr/src/kernel/drivers/clk/clk.c of the component DT Parser. Such manipulation leads to an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2025-71299. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5. It has been rated as critical. Affected by this issue is the function pm_runtime_disable of the file /usr/src/kernel/drivers/clk/clk.c of the component DT Parser. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: spi: cadence-quadspi: Parse DT for flashes with the rest of the DT parsing The recent refactoring of where runtime PM is enabled done in commit f1eb4e792bb1 ("spi: spi-cadence-quadspi: Enable pm runtime earlier to avoid imbalance") made the fact that when we do a pm_runtime_disable() in the error paths of probe() we can trigger a runtime disable which in turn results in duplicate clock disables. This is particularly likely to happen when there is missing or broken DT description for the flashes attached to the controller. Early on in the probe function we do a pm_runtime_get_noresume() since the probe function leaves the device in a powered up state but in the error path we can't assume that PM is enabled so we also manually disable everything, including clocks. This means that when runtime PM is active both it and the probe function release the same reference to the main clock for the IP, triggering warnings from the clock subsystem: [ 8.693719] clk:75:7 already disabled [ 8.693791] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 185 at /usr/src/kernel/drivers/clk/clk.c:1188 clk_core_disable+0xa0/0xb ... [ 8.694261] clk_core_disable+0xa0/0xb4 (P) [ 8.694272] clk_disable+0x38/0x60 [ 8.694283] cqspi_probe+0x7c8/0xc5c [spi_cadence_quadspi] [ 8.694309] platform_probe+0x5c/0xa4 Dealing with this issue properly is complicated by the fact that we don't know if runtime PM is active so can't tell if it will disable the clocks or not. We can, however, sidestep the issue for the flash descriptions by moving their parsing to when we parse the controller properties which also save us doing a bunch of setup which can never be used so let's do that.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-71299 since 05/06/2026. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 07/08/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.16 or 6.19.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 08dca4c8099a41a9fa3be128a793387603f73a17/dcaa104ad9c860a6dbd5797919e0ec0b1cd5a57a/9f0736a4e136a6eb61e0cf530ddc18ab6d816ba3 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 vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-1454). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

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

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3
• 6.19.4
• 6.19.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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Entryinfo

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