Bug 2525370 (CVE-2026-80677)

Summary: CVE-2026-80677 kernel: driver core: use READ_ONCE() for dev->driver in dev_has_sync_state()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel driver core. The `dev_has_sync_state()` function reads the `dev->driver` pointer multiple times without proper synchronization. This allows a concurrent unbind operation to clear the `dev->driver` pointer between reads. Such a race condition could lead to a null pointer dereference, potentially causing system instability or a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-28 07:41:30 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

driver core: use READ_ONCE() for dev->driver in dev_has_sync_state()

dev_has_sync_state() reads dev->driver twice without holding
device_lock() -- once for the NULL check and once to dereference
->sync_state. Some callers only hold device_links_write_lock, which
doesn't prevent a concurrent unbind from clearing dev->driver via
device_unbind_cleanup().

Fix it by reading dev->driver exactly once with READ_ONCE(), pairing
with the WRITE_ONCE() in device_set_driver().
Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-08-31 06:52:28 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026082849-CVE-2026-80677-13a4@gregkh/T