# CVE-2026-72314: regulator: core: regulator_lock_two() should test for EDEADLK not EDEADLOCK

> Incorrect deadlock detection in Linux kernel regulator code causes lock inconsistency on MIPS, potentially leading to system instability or denial of service.

- **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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72314, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72314, GHSA-g74q-qxv8-58hq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72314

## What is CVE-2026-72314?

CVE-2026-72314 is a high-severity 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:

regulator: core: regulator_lock_two() should test for EDEADLK not EDEADLOCK

Compare against -EDEADLK, which is what ww_mutex_lock() actually
returns and what every other deadlock check in this file already uses.

Function regulator_lock_two() acquires two regulators via
regulator_lock_nested() -> ww_mutex_lock().  On contention,
ww_mutex_lock() returns -EDEADLK, which is the caller's signal to drop
the lock it holds and retry the acquisition in the canonical order.

However, regulator_lock_two() tests the return value against -EDEADLOCK
rather than -EDEADLK.  On most architectures, EDEADLK and EDEADLOCK are
the same value, so the comparison happens to be correct and the bug is
invisible.  But on MIPS, SPARC, and PowerPC, those two errors have
different values.  The test is wrong: a genuine -EDEADLK backoff no
longer matches -EDEADLOCK, so instead of unlocking and retrying, the
code falls into WARN_ON(ret) and returns with only one of the two
regulators locked.

In practice, this is a bug only on MIPS, because the regulator core is
not built or used on the other two platforms.

In general, EDEADLK is preferred over EDEADLOCK for new code.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72314?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72314?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72314 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72314 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72314 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72314 is a high-severity 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-2026-72314 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-2026-72314/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72314/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72314
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72314
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72314

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72314/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.