Bug 2502895 (CVE-2026-64205) - CVE-2026-64205 kernel: i2c: i801: fix hardware state machine corruption in error path
Summary: CVE-2026-64205 kernel: i2c: i801: fix hardware state machine corruption in er...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-64205
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-07-20 17:04 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-07-21 03:56 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-07-20 17:04:28 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

i2c: i801: fix hardware state machine corruption in error path

A severe livelock and subsequent Hung Task panic were observed in the
i2c-i801 driver during concurrent Fuzzing. The crash is caused by an
unconditional hardware register cleanup in the error handling path of
i801_access().

When i801_check_pre() fails (e.g., returning -EBUSY because the SMBus
controller is actively used by BIOS/ACPI), the kernel does not actually
acquire the hardware ownership. However, the code jumps to the 'out'
label and executes:

    iowrite8(SMBHSTSTS_INUSE_STS | STATUS_FLAGS, SMBHSTSTS(priv));

This forcefully clears the INUSE_STS lock and resets the hardware status
flags without owning the controller. Doing so interrupts ongoing BIOS/ACPI
transactions and totally corrupts the SMBus hardware state machine.

Consequently, all subsequent i801_access() calls fail at the pre-check
stage, triggering an endless stream of "SMBus is busy, can't use it!"
error logs. Over a slow serial console, this printk flood monopolizes
the CPU (Console Livelock), starving other processes trying to acquire
the mmap_lock down_read semaphore, ultimately triggering the hung task
watchdog.

Fix this by moving the 'out' label below the hardware register cleanup.
If i801_check_pre() fails, we safely bypass the iowrite8() and only
release the software locks (pm_runtime and mutex), strictly adhering to
the rule of not releasing resources that were never acquired.


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