CVE-2026-43332 thermal: core: Fix thermal zone device registration error path
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel thermal subsystem allows local attackers to potentially execute code or escalate privileges via a race condition during device registration failure.
- 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-2026-43332?
CVE-2026-43332 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 8 May 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:
thermal: core: Fix thermal zone device registration error path
If thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() fails after registering a thermal zone device, it needs to wait for the tz->removal completion like thermal_zone_device_unregister(), in case user space has managed to take a reference to the thermal zone device's kobject, in which case thermal_release() may not be called by the error path itself and tz may be freed prematurely.
Add the missing wait_for_completion() call to the thermal zone device registration error path.
Weakness: CWE-416
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43332?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-43332?
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-2026-43332 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43332 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-43332, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43332, GHSA-6j54-46hm-vq8v, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43332, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43332.