SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityAnalyzed

CVE-2026-23158

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: virtuser: fix UAF in configfs release path The gpio-virtuser configfs release path uses guard(mutex) to protect the device structure.

HIGH 7.8EPSS 0.12%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.12%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gpio: virtuser: fix UAF in configfs release path The gpio-virtuser configfs release path uses guard(mutex) to protect the device structure. However, the device is freed before the guard cleanup runs, causing mutex_unlock() to operate on freed memory. Specifically, gpio_virtuser_device_config_group_release() destroys the mutex and frees the device while still inside the guard(mutex) scope. When the function returns, the guard cleanup invokes mutex_unlock(&dev->lock), resulting in a slab use-after-free. Limit the mutex lifetime by using a scoped_guard() only around the activation check, so that the lock is released before mutex_destroy() and kfree() are called.

CVSS 3.1
7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS
0.12% probability · 2th percentile
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-416
Affected
linux/linux kernel
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.