CVE-2026-53158 misc: fastrpc: Fix NULL pointer dereference in rpmsg callback

What is CVE-2026-53158?

CVE-2026-53158 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Jun 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:

misc: fastrpc: Fix NULL pointer dereference in rpmsg callback

A NULL pointer dereference was observed on Hawi at boot when the DSP sends a glink message before fastrpc_rpmsg_probe() has completed initialization:

Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000178 pc : _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x34/0x8c lr : fastrpc_rpmsg_callback+0x3c/0xcc [fastrpc] ... Call trace: _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x34/0x8c (P) fastrpc_rpmsg_callback+0x3c/0xcc [fastrpc] qcom_glink_native_rx+0x538/0x6a4 qcom_glink_smem_intr+0x14/0x24 [qcom_glink_smem]

The faulting address 0x178 corresponds to the lock variable inside struct fastrpc_channel_ctx, confirming that cctx is NULL when fastrpc_rpmsg_callback() attempts to take the spinlock.

There are two issues here. First, dev_set_drvdata() is called before spin_lock_init() and idr_init(), leaving a window where the callback can retrieve a valid cctx pointer but operate on an uninitialized spinlock. Second, the rpmsg channel becomes live as soon as the driver is bound, so fastrpc_rpmsg_callback() can fire before dev_set_drvdata() is called at all, resulting in dev_get_drvdata() returning NULL.

Fix both issues by moving all cctx initialization ahead of dev_set_drvdata() so the structure is fully initialized before it becomes visible to the callback, and add a NULL check in fastrpc_rpmsg_callback() as a guard against any remaining window.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53158?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-53158?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-53158 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53158 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-53158, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53158, GHSA-j24m-w36c-325g, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-53158, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53158, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53158 and 2 more.