# CVE-2026-72008: pmdomain: mediatek: Fix possible nullptr KP in HWV cleanup/on-check

> A null pointer dereference in the MediaTek power domain driver can cause a kernel crash during probe failure or cleanup, leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72008, GHSA-crr9-wcjh-36g7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72008

## What is CVE-2026-72008?

CVE-2026-72008 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:

pmdomain: mediatek: Fix possible nullptr KP in HWV cleanup/on-check

Should probe fail for HW_VOTER type power domains, this driver was
unconditionally trying to perform cleanup for DIRECT_CTL domains,
but only after checking if the target domain is powered on... with
the DIRECT_CTL scpsys_domain_is_on() code again.

And there's more: the scpsys_domain_is_on() function is also being
unconditionally used in the probe path, for any power domain that
has flag MTK_SCPD_KEEP_DEFAULT_OFF!

This bug was never experienced by anyone because the HWV domains
never failed probe, and because none of those is declared with the
aforementioned flag - but it's still something critical.

In order to fix this, add a check for MTCMOS Type and, based on
that, call the correct functions for an "is on" check, and also
do the same for the cleanup path, calling the correct functions
for the "power off" action.

For the latter, since there's a call to pm_genpd_remove() right
before calling power_off, be cautious and add a variation of the
power off functions (with a _internal suffix) for those to get a
pointer to scpsys_domain instead of one to generic_pm_domain as,
even if that's still working, this is way too much fragile and
would break at some point.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72008?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72008?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72008 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72008 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72008 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72008 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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-2026-72008 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72008/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72008/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72008
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72008
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72008

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72008/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.