Bug 2532356 (CVE-2026-89472)

Summary:	CVE-2026-89472 kernel: power: supply: charger-manager: register regulators before exposing sysfs
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, 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 power supply charger-manager component. A race condition exists where the system frees charger regulators before their corresponding sysfs entries are unregistered. A local attacker can exploit this by performing a concurrent write to a charger's `externally_control` sysfs attribute, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. This can result in system instability, crashes, or potentially arbitrary code execution.	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 2026-09-11 22:30:59 UTC

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

power: supply: charger-manager: register regulators before exposing sysfs

charger_manager_remove() and the err_reg_extcon probe error path free each
charger regulator with regulator_put() before tearing down the power_supply
sysfs entries (power_supply_unregister()). charger_manager_remove() also
calls try_charger_enable(cm, false) after the regulator_put() loop. A
concurrent write to a charger's externally_control sysfs attribute that
lands between regulator_put() and power_supply_unregister() can run
charger_externally_control_store() and call try_charger_enable(), which,
when charging is enabled, dereferences the already-freed consumer handle.
When charging is enabled, try_charger_enable(cm, false) in .remove() also
dereferences the freed handles directly. Both leave use-after-free windows.
Symmetrically, probe registers the sysfs entries (power_supply_register)
before acquiring the regulators (regulator_get, inside
charger_manager_register_extcon), so userspace can reach externally_control
before the regulators are available.

Split charger_manager_register_extcon() on the sync/async boundary:
charger_manager_get_regulators() (regulator_get only, no async producer)
now runs before power_supply_register() so sysfs is not live before
regulators are available, and charger_manager_register_extcon() keeps only
the extcon notifier/work setup, still after power_supply_register() so a
power_supply_register() failure cannot reach extcon setup. This keeps the
sysfs setup/teardown ordering symmetric without introducing an asynchronous
producer on the earlier probe-error path.

Move power_supply_unregister() and try_charger_enable(cm, false) ahead of
the regulator_put() loop on both teardown paths, and adjust err_reg_extcon
(power_supply_unregister() then fall through err_regulator for
regulator_put(); get_regulators self-rolls back on its own failure).

This does not address the separate extcon-notifier-driven deref of the same
handles, which needs its own synchronization design.

Found by an in-house static analysis tool.