# CVE-2026-23207: spi: tegra210-quad: Protect curr_xfer check in IRQ handler

> A race condition in the Tegra210 QSPI driver allows a NULL pointer dereference, leading to a kernel crash and denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-80106, BELL-CVE-2026-23207, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23207, GHSA-5xf5-gq7p-jfx7, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23207, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23207, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23207, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23207, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23207

## What is CVE-2026-23207?

CVE-2026-23207 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 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:

spi: tegra210-quad: Protect curr_xfer check in IRQ handler

Now that all other accesses to curr_xfer are done under the lock,
protect the curr_xfer NULL check in tegra_qspi_isr_thread() with the
spinlock. Without this protection, the following race can occur:

  CPU0 (ISR thread)              CPU1 (timeout path)
  ----------------               -------------------
  if (!tqspi->curr_xfer)
    // sees non-NULL
                                 spin_lock()
                                 tqspi->curr_xfer = NULL
                                 spin_unlock()
  handle_*_xfer()
    spin_lock()
    t = tqspi->curr_xfer  // NULL!
    ... t->len ...        // NULL dereference!

With this patch, all curr_xfer accesses are now properly synchronized.

Although all accesses to curr_xfer are done under the lock, in
tegra_qspi_isr_thread() it checks for NULL, releases the lock and
reacquires it later in handle_cpu_based_xfer()/handle_dma_based_xfer().
There is a potential for an update in between, which could cause a NULL
pointer dereference.

To handle this, add a NULL check inside the handlers after acquiring
the lock. This ensures that if the timeout path has already cleared
curr_xfer, the handler will safely return without dereferencing the
NULL pointer.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free), CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23207?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23207?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23207 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23207 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-23207 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23207 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23207 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23207/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23207/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23207
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23207
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23207

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23207/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.