CVE-2026-22986 gpiolib: fix race condition for gdev->srcu

Medium 4.7 Published 23 Jan 2026 Updated 11 May 2026

A race condition in the Linux kernel GPIO subsystem can cause a system crash when multiple drivers initialize GPIO chips concurrently.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2026-22986?

CVE-2026-22986 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 23 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

gpiolib: fix race condition for gdev->srcu

If two drivers were calling gpiochip_add_data_with_key(), one may be traversing the srcu-protected list in gpio_name_to_desc(), meanwhile other has just added its gdev in gpiodev_add_to_list_unlocked(). This creates a non-mutexed and non-protected timeframe, when one instance is dereferencing and using &gdev->srcu, before the other has initialized it, resulting in crash:

[ 4.935481] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff800272bcc000 [ 4.943396] Mem abort info: [ 4.943400] ESR = 0x0000000096000005 [ 4.943403] EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits [ 4.943407] SET = 0, FnV = 0 [ 4.943410] EA = 0, S1PTW = 0 [ 4.943413] FSC = 0x05: level 1 translation fault [ 4.943416] Data abort info: [ 4.943418] ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000005, ISS2 = 0x00000000 [ 4.946220] CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0 [ 4.955261] GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0 [ 4.955268] swapper pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=0000000038e6c000 [ 4.961449] [ffff800272bcc000] pgd=0000000000000000 [ 4.969203] , p4d=1000000039739003 [ 4.979730] , pud=0000000000000000 [ 4.980210] phandle (CPU): 0x0000005e, phandle (BE): 0x5e000000 for node "reset" [ 4.991736] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000005 [#1] PREEMPT SMP ... [ 5.121359] pc : __srcu_read_lock+0x44/0x98 [ 5.131091] lr : gpio_name_to_desc+0x60/0x1a0 [ 5.153671] sp : ffff8000833bb430 [ 5.298440] [ 5.298443] Call trace: [ 5.298445] __srcu_read_lock+0x44/0x98 [ 5.309484] gpio_name_to_desc+0x60/0x1a0 [ 5.320692] gpiochip_add_data_with_key+0x488/0xf00 5.946419] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

Move initialization code for gdev fields before it is added to gpio_devices, with adjacent initialization code. Adjust goto statements to reflect modified order of operations

[Bartosz: fixed a build issue, removed stray newline]

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-22986?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-22986?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-22986 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22986 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-22986, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22986, GHSA-c2vw-8m72-w2vh, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-22986, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-22986.