Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3 IRQ power_supply_changed use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3 and classified as critical. This affects the function power_supply_changed of the component IRQ Handler. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-45946. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function power_supply_changed of the component IRQ Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: power: supply: ab8500: Fix use-after-free in power_supply_changed() Using the `devm_` variant for requesting IRQ _before_ the `devm_` variant for allocating/registering the `power_supply` handle, means that the `power_supply` handle will be deallocated/unregistered _before_ the interrupt handler (since `devm_` naturally deallocates in reverse allocation order). This means that during removal, there is a race condition where an interrupt can fire just _after_ the `power_supply` handle has been freed, *but* just _before_ the corresponding unregistration of the IRQ handler has run. This will lead to the IRQ handler calling `power_supply_changed()` with a freed `power_supply` handle. Which usually crashes the system or otherwise silently corrupts the memory... Note that there is a similar situation which can also happen during `probe()`; the possibility of an interrupt firing _before_ registering the `power_supply` handle. This would then lead to the nasty situation of using the `power_supply` handle *uninitialized* in `power_supply_changed()`. Commit 1c1f13a006ed ("power: supply: ab8500: Move to componentized binding") introduced this issue during a refactorization. Fix this racy use-after-free by making sure the IRQ is requested _after_ the registration of the `power_supply` handle.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-45946 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/16/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.6.128, 6.12.75, 6.18.14 or 6.19.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 43cbb78ee047b9b12d096d40e3be265969d4c1f8/551672981fe227122258a25a385a05f5c0746ad6/f50433f2603def08b21a4bf2fd238687fb5cbde9/847eeb6c0efcd76c7def73857cf798a4fcd8f79b/709db4b476e254579d9c48ec34d397a41ca0c407/46dbda27b028d78087667e8280966b99cec015ca/c4af8a98bb52825a5331ae1d0604c0ea6956ba4b 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.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.201
• 6.1.164
• 6.6.127
• 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
• 6.18.0
• 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
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Discussion