CVE-2026-74519: pinctrl: devicetree: don't free uninitialized dev_name on error path

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-15 · updated 2026-10-16

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: pinctrl: devicetree: don't free uninitialized dev_name on error path dt_remember_or_free_map() duplicates dev_name for each map entry. If kstrdup_const() fails, dt_free_map() frees dev_name in all num_maps entries, including entries that have not been initialized. Some pinctrl drivers, including pinctrl-imx, allocate the map with kmalloc() and leave dev_name for the core to initialize. The untouched entries therefore contain uninitialized data which is passed to kfree_const(). Reproduced on qemu's mcimx6ul-evk (pinctrl-imx) with failslab injection while binding the pinctrl-consuming device, under KASAN: BUG: KASAN: double-free in dt_free_map+0x34/0xa4 Free of addr c425a900 by task init/1 kfree from dt_free_map+0x34/0xa4 dt_free_map from dt_remember_or_free_map+0x184/0x198 dt_remember_or_free_map from pinctrl_dt_to_map+0x33c/0x4c8 pinctrl_dt_to_map from create_pinctrl+0x9c/0x5c0 Initialize all dev_name fields to NULL before duplicating the device name, making the full-map cleanup safe after a partial failure.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 4.4.244 before 4.5; from 4.9.244 before 4.10; from 4.14.161 before 4.15; from 4.19.92 before 4.20; from 5.4.7 before 5.5; 5.5 — fixed in 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 4.5, 5.5, 7.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 4.5. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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