# CVE-2026-72485: coresight: platform: defer connection counter increment until alloc succeeds

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel Coresight driver causes a system panic during probe failure, leading to 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:** 3 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72485, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72485, GHSA-cfj8-7wqc-c295, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72485

## What is CVE-2026-72485?

CVE-2026-72485 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:

coresight: platform: defer connection counter increment until alloc succeeds

coresight_add_out_conn() increments nr_outconns before calling
devm_krealloc_array() and again before devm_kmalloc(). If either
allocation fails, the counter is already bumped while the corresponding
array entry is NULL or uninitialized garbage.

coresight_add_in_conn() has the same problem with nr_inconns and
devm_krealloc_array().

In both cases the probe returns -ENOMEM, which causes
coresight_get_platform_data() to call coresight_release_platform_data()
for cleanup. That function iterates up to nr_outconns (or nr_inconns)
entries and dereferences each pointer unconditionally, hitting the NULL
or garbage entry and panicking instead of failing gracefully.

Fix by moving the counter increments to after all allocations succeed,
so the struct is always consistent on any error path.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72485?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72485?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72485 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72485 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72485 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72485 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-2026-72485 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-2026-72485/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72485/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72485
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72485
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72485

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72485/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.