CVE-2026-72486 mailbox: mtk-adsp: fix UAF during device teardown
A use-after-free in the Linux kernel mtk-adsp mailbox driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash or potentially execute code during device teardown.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72486?
CVE-2026-72486 is an use after free 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:
mailbox: mtk-adsp: fix UAF during device teardown
When the SOF audio driver fails to initialize (e.g. firmware boot timeout), its devres unwind frees the snd_sof_dev object that the mailbox client (mtk-adsp-ipc) reaches via chan->cl->rx_callback. The mtk-adsp-mailbox shutdown clears the mailbox command registers but leaves the IRQ line unmasked, so a late interrupt can still queue a threaded handler after mbox_free_channel() had cleared chan->cl, and mbox_chan_received_data() would then trigger UAF:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sof_ipc3_validate_fw_version sof_ipc3_validate_fw_version sof_ipc3_do_rx_work sof_ipc3_rx_msg mt8196_dsp_handle_request mtk_adsp_ipc_recv mbox_chan_received_data mtk_adsp_mbox_isr irq_thread_fn Freed by task ...: kfree devres_release_all really_probe ... (sof-audio-of-mt8196 probe failure)
The crash was observed roughly three seconds after the failed probe.
disable_irq() in shutdown and enable_irq() in startup. disable_irq() also waits for any in-flight interrupts, so by the time mbox_free_channel() proceeds to clear chan->cl no rx_callback can run.
In addition, request the IRQ with IRQF_NO_AUTOEN so it stays masked between probe and the first client bind — otherwise an early interrupt can crash on chan->cl == NULL in mbox_chan_received_data().
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72486?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72486?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-72486 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72486 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72486, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72486, GHSA-7xg7-8g6q-847f, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72486.