Bug 2555095 (CVE-2026-98688) - CVE-2026-98688 kernel: thunderbolt: Fix NULL dereference in tb_remove_work()
Summary: CVE-2026-98688 kernel: thunderbolt: Fix NULL dereference in tb_remove_work()
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-98688
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-10-18 15:54 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-10-22 03:21 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:54:08 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

thunderbolt: Fix NULL dereference in tb_remove_work()

There is a slight race between tb_remove_work() and tb_domain_remove()
which leads to dereferencing a NULL tb->root_switch pointer inside
tb_free_unplugged_xdomains():

        Thread A                            Thread B

  tb_remove_work()
                                    tb_domain_remove()
                                      mutex_lock(&tb->lock)
                                      tb_stop()
                                        /* doesn't cancel a running callback */
                                        cancel_delayed_work(&tcm->remove_work)
                                        ...
                                        tb_switch_remove(tb->root_switch)
                                        tb->root_switch = NULL
                                      mutex_unlock(&tb->lock)
    mutex_lock(&tb->lock)
    ...
    /* without checking ->root_switch */
    tb_free_unplugged_xdomains(tb->root_switch)
    mutex_unlock(&tb->lock)

Commit a8937f35cf39 ("thunderbolt: Remove XDomain from the bus without
holding tb->lock") doesn't seem right to move tb_free_unplugged_xdomains()
out of the &tb->lock section and the check for tb->root_switch, in
particular.  It states:

  For this reason separate removing the XDomain from the topology data
  structures (where we need the lock) from unregistering the device from
  the bus (where remove callbacks of the drivers are being called).

tb_free_unplugged_xdomains() belongs to the former group of functions
requiring the lock.  And it also calls tb_xdomain_remove() which should
only be called with &tb->lock held.

Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Svace static
analysis tool.


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