# CVE-2026-45914: Revert "hwmon: (ibmpex) fix use-after-free in high/low store"

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the ibmpex hwmon driver can cause a kernel crash when sensor attributes are removed concurrently with reads.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 27 May 2026
- **Updated:** 27 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-45914, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-45914, GHSA-wf7m-gffh-f29c, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-45914, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-45914, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-45914

## What is CVE-2026-45914?

CVE-2026-45914 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 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:

Revert "hwmon: (ibmpex) fix use-after-free in high/low store"

This reverts commit 6946c726c3f4c36f0f049e6f97e88c510b15f65d.

Jean Delvare points out that the patch does not completely
fix the reported problem, that it in fact introduces a
(new) race condition, and that it may actually not be needed in
the first place.

Various AI reviews agree. Specific and relevant AI feedback:

"
This reordering sets the driver data to NULL before removing the sensor
attributes in the loop below.

ibmpex_show_sensor() retrieves this driver data via dev_get_drvdata() but
does not check if it is NULL before dereferencing it to access
data->sensors[].

If a userspace process reads a sensor file (like temp1_input) while this
delete function is running, could it race with the dev_set_drvdata(...,
NULL) call here and crash in ibmpex_show_sensor()?

Would it be safer to keep the original order where device_remove_file() is
called before clearing the driver data? device_remove_file() should wait
for any active sysfs callbacks to complete, which might already prevent the
use-after-free this patch intends to fix.
"

Revert the offending patch. If it can be shown that the originally reported
alleged race condition does indeed exist, it can always be re-introduced
with a complete fix.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-45914?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-45914?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-45914 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-45914 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-2026-45914 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-45914 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 May 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-2026-45914 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-2026-45914/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45914/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-45914
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-45914
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-45914

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-45914/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.