Bug 2457827 (CVE-2026-31426)

Summary:	CVE-2026-31426 kernel: ACPI: EC: clean up handlers on probe failure in acpi_ec_setup()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) Embedded Controller (EC) subsystem. During the setup of the EC handler, if a probe deferral occurs on specific hardware, the system fails to properly deallocate resources. This oversight creates a use-after-free vulnerability, allowing an unprivileged local attacker to trigger a system crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). The attacker can exploit this by performing certain system file system (sysfs) reads that interact with EC OpRegion fields.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-13 14:01:43 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ACPI: EC: clean up handlers on probe failure in acpi_ec_setup()

When ec_install_handlers() returns -EPROBE_DEFER on reduced-hardware
platforms, it has already started the EC and installed the address
space handler with the struct acpi_ec pointer as handler context.
However, acpi_ec_setup() propagates the error without any cleanup.

The caller acpi_ec_add() then frees the struct acpi_ec for non-boot
instances, leaving a dangling handler context in ACPICA.

Any subsequent AML evaluation that accesses an EC OpRegion field
dispatches into acpi_ec_space_handler() with the freed pointer,
causing a use-after-free:

 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mutex_lock (kernel/locking/mutex.c:289)
 Write of size 8 at addr ffff88800721de38 by task init/1
 Call Trace:
  <TASK>
  mutex_lock (kernel/locking/mutex.c:289)
  acpi_ec_space_handler (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1362)
  acpi_ev_address_space_dispatch (drivers/acpi/acpica/evregion.c:293)
  acpi_ex_access_region (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:246)
  acpi_ex_field_datum_io (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:509)
  acpi_ex_extract_from_field (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:700)
  acpi_ex_read_data_from_field (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfield.c:327)
  acpi_ex_resolve_node_to_value (drivers/acpi/acpica/exresolv.c:392)
  </TASK>

 Allocated by task 1:
  acpi_ec_alloc (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1424)
  acpi_ec_add (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1692)

 Freed by task 1:
  kfree (mm/slub.c:6876)
  acpi_ec_add (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1751)

The bug triggers on reduced-hardware EC platforms (ec->gpe < 0)
when the GPIO IRQ provider defers probing. Once the stale handler
exists, any unprivileged sysfs read that causes AML to touch an
EC OpRegion (battery, thermal, backlight) exercises the dangling
pointer.

Fix this by calling ec_remove_handlers() in the error path of
acpi_ec_setup() before clearing first_ec. ec_remove_handlers()
checks each EC_FLAGS_* bit before acting, so it is safe to call
regardless of how far ec_install_handlers() progressed:

  -ENODEV  (handler not installed): only calls acpi_ec_stop()
  -EPROBE_DEFER (handler installed): removes handler, stops EC

Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-04-13 17:13:43 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026041357-CVE-2026-31426-bfb3@gregkh/T