Linux Kernel up to 7.2.4/7.3-rc1 ethosu ethosu_ioctl_submit_job missing initialization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.4/7.3-rc1 and classified as very critical. This vulnerability affects the function ethosu_ioctl_submit_job of the component ethosu. This manipulation causes missing initialization. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-89976. The attack requires local access. There is no available exploit. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.4/7.3-rc1. Affected by this vulnerability is the function ethosu_ioctl_submit_job of the component ethosu. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a missing initialization vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-456. The product does not initialize critical variables, which causes the execution environment to use unexpected values. 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: accel/ethosu: fix job completion fence cleanup ethosu_ioctl_submit_job() allocates done_fence before validating buffer handles. Errors after allocation call ethosu_job_err_cleanup(), which frees the job but leaks the uninitialized fence. A scheduler dependency error also lets ethosu_job_run() return before dma_fence_init(). Normal cleanup then passes a zeroed refcount to dma_fence_put(). Release done_fence in the common cleanup path and use dma_fence_was_initialized() to distinguish initialized fences from raw allocations. [robh: also fix goto]

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-89976 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are necessary for exploitation. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/16/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.5 or 7.3-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b3e0f79af1f27339d8d2527c02cc3e8397c2f69f/2d2a3adc91950f9a18829dadc7317fb5180a15c5 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.3-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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