# CVE-2026-80861: usb: xhci: bail out of setup if the controller is inaccessible

> A kernel oops occurs when the xHCI USB controller is inaccessible, causing a denial of service on Linux systems with affected hardware.

- **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:** 4 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-99639, BELL-CVE-2026-80861, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80861, GHSA-8wxp-3ggp-2gcw, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80861

## What is CVE-2026-80861?

CVE-2026-80861 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 Sep 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:

usb: xhci: bail out of setup if the controller is inaccessible

xhci_gen_setup() locates the operational registers using the capability
length read from the very first register:

	xhci->op_regs = hcd->regs +
		HC_LENGTH(readl(&xhci->cap_regs->hc_capbase));

If the controller is dead or has dropped off the bus, that read returns
~0, HC_LENGTH() truncates it to 0xff, and op_regs ends up 0xff bytes
past the page-aligned MMIO base, i.e. unaligned. The first access
through it, xhci_halt() -> xhci_handshake() reading op_regs->status, is
then an unaligned readl() on device memory. arm64 faults on unaligned
device accesses, so instead of xhci_handshake() catching the all-ones
value and returning -ENODEV, setup oopses:

  xhci-pci-renesas 0005:08:00.0: Unable to change power state from D3cold to D0, device inaccessible
  xhci-pci-renesas 0005:08:00.0: xHCI Host Controller
  xhci-pci-renesas 0005:08:00.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
  Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff80030a770103
    ESR = 0x0000000096000021
    FSC = 0x21: alignment fault
  Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000021 [#1]  SMP
  pc : xhci_halt [xhci_hcd]
  Call trace:
   xhci_halt
   xhci_gen_setup
   xhci_pci_setup
   usb_add_hcd
   usb_hcd_pci_probe
   xhci_pci_common_probe
   xhci_pci_renesas_probe

This was hit with a Renesas uPD720201 that failed to power up ("Unable
to change power state from D3cold to D0, device inaccessible") yet still
reached the HCD probe path.

Read the capability register once, and if it reads back the all-ones
value (as xhci_handshake() and xhci_reset() already test for), abort
setup with -ENODEV before op_regs is derived from it. Reading it once
also avoids re-reading a register that may change under a concurrent
hot-removal.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80861?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80861?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80861 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80861 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80861 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80861 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 4 Sep 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-2026-80861 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-2026-80861/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80861/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80861
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80861
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80861

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80861/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.