CVE-2026-89738: usb: gadget: at91_udc: drain polled-VBUS timer/work before udc is freed

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-09-11 · updated 2026-10-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: at91_udc: drain polled-VBUS timer/work before udc is freed In polled-VBUS mode (board.vbus_pin && board.vbus_polled), probe arms a self-restarting cycle: at91_vbus_timer() schedules vbus_timer_work, and at91_vbus_timer_work() calls at91_vbus_update() and re-arms the timer via mod_timer(). Both recover the same udc through container_of and dereference it on every iteration. Neither teardown path cancels this cycle. udc is devm-allocated, so it is freed after at91udc_remove() returns, and is likewise freed when probe fails and devres runs. A timer callback or work item that is pending or running at either point dereferences the freed udc. Add at91_udc_shutdown_vbus_timer() and call it from at91udc_remove() and from the usb_add_gadget_udc() failure path in probe; the remaining probe error paths fail before the timer is armed. timer_shutdown_sync() waits for a running callback and clears timer->function, which makes the work handler's mod_timer() a permanent no-op; cancel_work_sync() then drains any pending or running work whose re-arm attempt now does nothing. The timer must be shut down first, since cancelling the work alone would let the timer re-queue it. The guard mirrors probe: in IRQ mode the timer and work_struct are never initialized. This does not require a fault; a normal driver unbind can interleave with an already queued work item. This issue was found by an in-house static analysis tool.

Affected products

Linux: 2.6.36 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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