CVE-2026-90224 nfc: nci: fix double completion race in nci_data_exchange_complete
A race condition in the Linux kernel NFC driver allows double completion, leading to use-after-free and potential code execution or denial of service.
- 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-2026-90224?
CVE-2026-90224 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, published on 17 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:
nfc: nci: fix double completion race in nci_data_exchange_complete
nci_close_device() and nci_rx_work can both call nci_data_exchange_complete() concurrently. After commit 4527025d440ce8 ("nfc: nci: fix circular locking dependency in nci_close_device") moved flush_workqueue(ndev->rx_wq) after mutex_unlock(&ndev->req_lock), rx_work is no longer serialized with the explicit completion call in the close path. Both callers read the non-NULL callback pointer and invoke rawsock_data_exchange_complete(), which calls sock_put() -- but only one sock_hold() was taken, so the second sock_put() underflows the refcount and frees the socket while it is still in use.
Replace the bare clear_bit(NCI_DATA_EXCHANGE) with test_and_clear_bit() so that only the first caller proceeds to invoke the callback.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90224?
How do I fix CVE-2026-90224?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-90224 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90224 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-102059, BELL-CVE-2026-90224, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90224, GHSA-xj24-p6ph-p2w7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90224.