# 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.

- **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:** 3 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **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, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23452, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23452, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23452

## 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 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23452?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23452?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## 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

- [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-2026-23452 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23452 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-2026-23452/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23452/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23452
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23452
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23452

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23452/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.