# CVE-2026-80950: i3c: renesas: Check that the transfer is valid before accessing it

> A race condition in the Renesas I3C driver allows accessing freed memory after a timeout, causing kernel crashes.

- **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:** 11 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-80950, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-80950, GHSA-74cf-jhfv-j2fx, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80950

## What is CVE-2026-80950?

CVE-2026-80950 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 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:

i3c: renesas: Check that the transfer is valid before accessing it

The Renesas I3C driver uses an asynchronous model to transfer data. It
prepares a struct renesas_i3c_xfer, enqueues it, and waits for completion.
The interrupt handler dequeues the transfer, updates/uses it, and signals
the waiting thread.

If the completion times out, the waiting thread dequeues the transfer and
free it. If an interrupt fires after that, the handler may access freed
memory, leading to crashes.

Check that the transfer is still valid before accessing it in the
interrupt handler. With it clear any status flags and disable all
the interrupts to avoid triggering the same interrupts again.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-80950?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-80950?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-80950 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-80950 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-80950 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-80950 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 11 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-2026-80950 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-2026-80950/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80950/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-80950
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-80950
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-80950

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-80950/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.