Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52 mailbox/imx imx_mu_isr/imx_mu_shutdown race condition

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52. It has been classified as very critical. This affects the function imx_mu_isr/imx_mu_shutdown of the component mailbox/imx. The manipulation leads to race condition. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-98903. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52. This issue affects the function imx_mu_isr/imx_mu_shutdown of the component mailbox/imx. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mailbox: imx: Add a channel shutdown field sashiko complained about possible teardown problem. The scenario CPU 0 CPU 1 imx_mu_isr() imx_mu_shutdown() imx_mu_xcr_rmw(priv, IMX_MU_RCR, 0, IMX_MU_xCR_RIEn(priv->dcfg->type, cp->idx)); imx_mu_specific_rx() imx_mu_xcr_rmw(priv, IMX_MU_RCR, IMX_MU_xCR_RIEn(priv->dcfg->type, 0), 0); free_irq() The RX event remains enabled because in this short window the RX event was disabled in ->shutdown() while the interrupt was active and then enabled again by the ISR while ->shutdown waited in free_irq(). This race requires timing and if happens can be problematic on shared handlers if the "removed" channel triggers an interrupt. In this case the irq-core will shutdown the interrupt with the "nobody cared" message. Introduce imx_mu_con_priv::shutdown to signal that the channel is shutting down. This flag is set with the lock held (by imx_mu_xcr_clr_shut()). The unmask side uses imx_mu_xcr_set_act() which only enables the event if the channel has not been shutdown and serialises on the same lock.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-98903 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/23/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.111 or 6.18.53 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 944d8509c2220a2313d4a094a646507929fb6f8d/5ccea7eacb7786c358833634f45700365f6c1d99 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-108859). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.110
• 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
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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