CVE-2026-23452 PM: runtime: Fix a race condition related to device removal
A race condition in the Linux kernel's runtime power management allows a use-after-free, potentially leading to system crashes or arbitrary code execution.
- 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-2026-23452?
CVE-2026-23452 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Apr 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:
PM: runtime: Fix a race condition related to device removal
The following code in pm_runtime_work() may dereference the dev->parent pointer after the parent device has been freed:
/* Maybe the parent is now able to suspend. */ if (parent && !parent->power.ignore_children) { spin_unlock(&dev->power.lock);
spin_lock(&parent->power.lock); rpm_idle(parent, RPM_ASYNC); spin_unlock(&parent->power.lock);
spin_lock(&dev->power.lock); }
Fix this by inserting a flush_work() call in pm_runtime_remove().
Without this patch blktest block/001 triggers the following complaint sporadically:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in lock_acquire+0x70/0x160 Read of size 1 at addr ffff88812bef7198 by task kworker/u553:1/3081 Workqueue: pm pm_runtime_work Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x61/0x80 print_address_description.constprop.0+0x8b/0x310 print_report+0xfd/0x1d7 kasan_report+0xd8/0x1d0 __kasan_check_byte+0x42/0x60 lock_acquire.part.0+0x38/0x230 lock_acquire+0x70/0x160 _raw_spin_lock+0x36/0x50 rpm_suspend+0xc6a/0xfe0 rpm_idle+0x578/0x770 pm_runtime_work+0xee/0x120 process_one_work+0xde3/0x1410 worker_thread+0x5eb/0xfe0 kthread+0x37b/0x480 ret_from_fork+0x6cb/0x920 ret_from_fork_asm+0x11/0x20 </TASK>
Allocated by task 4314: kasan_save_stack+0x2a/0x50 kasan_save_track+0x18/0x40 kasan_save_alloc_info+0x3d/0x50 __kasan_kmalloc+0xa0/0xb0 __kmalloc_noprof+0x311/0x990 scsi_alloc_target+0x122/0xb60 [scsi_mod] __scsi_scan_target+0x101/0x460 [scsi_mod] scsi_scan_channel+0x179/0x1c0 [scsi_mod] scsi_scan_host_selected+0x259/0x2d0 [scsi_mod] store_scan+0x2d2/0x390 [scsi_mod] dev_attr_store+0x43/0x80 sysfs_kf_write+0xde/0x140 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x3ef/0x670 vfs_write+0x506/0x1470 ksys_write+0xfd/0x230 __x64_sys_write+0x76/0xc0 x64_sys_call+0x213/0x1810 do_syscall_64+0xee/0xfc0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
Freed by task 4314: kasan_save_stack+0x2a/0x50 kasan_save_track+0x18/0x40 kasan_save_free_info+0x3f/0x50 __kasan_slab_free+0x67/0x80 kfree+0x225/0x6c0 scsi_target_dev_release+0x3d/0x60 [scsi_mod] device_release+0xa3/0x220 kobject_cleanup+0x105/0x3a0 kobject_put+0x72/0xd0 put_device+0x17/0x20 scsi_device_dev_release+0xacf/0x12c0 [scsi_mod] device_release+0xa3/0x220 kobject_cleanup+0x105/0x3a0 kobject_put+0x72/0xd0 put_device+0x17/0x20 scsi_device_put+0x7f/0xc0 [scsi_mod] sdev_store_delete+0xa5/0x120 [scsi_mod] dev_attr_store+0x43/0x80 sysfs_kf_write+0xde/0x140 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x3ef/0x670 vfs_write+0x506/0x1470 ksys_write+0xfd/0x230 __x64_sys_write+0x76/0xc0 x64_sys_call+0x213/0x1810
Weakness: CWE-362
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23452?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23452?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-23452 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23452 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23452, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23452, GHSA-vxcm-6fmh-2q7q, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23452, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23452, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23452 and 3 more.