# CVE-2026-90431: remoteproc: Prevent crash handling to race with rproc_del()

> A race condition in the Linux kernel remoteproc subsystem allows local attackers to trigger a use-after-free, potentially causing system crashes or privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 17 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-102783, BELL-CVE-2026-90431, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-90431, GHSA-j445-23gj-v4rv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-90431

## What is CVE-2026-90431?

CVE-2026-90431 is an use after free 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:

remoteproc: Prevent crash handling to race with rproc_del()

There's no synchronization between rproc_crash_handler_work() and
rproc_del(), as such it's possible for a driver to be removed while
crash-handler work is scheduled, or even executing - resulting in
use-after-free issues.

To avoid this the scheduled work need to be cancelled and synchronized
against before the removal proceeds.

In order to ensure that this doesn't race with the reporting, and
thereby scheduling new work, a "deleting" flag is introduced. This is
similar to the RPROC_DELETE state that was introduced to ensure that
"start" didn't race with rproc_del(), but the existing mechanism can not
be used as it's valid to call rproc_report_crash() in atomic context -
and the "state" is protected by a mutex.

In the event that work is cancelled the pm_stay_awake() is left
unbalanced and need to be unrolled.

The blocking and cancelling of crash-handler work prior to the actual
rproc_shutdown() call does have the explicit side-effect that crashes
resulting from the shutdown process will not enter the crash-handling
path, and as such will not generate devcoredumps etc. Due to the
existing mutual exclusion between these code paths there's no concrete
reduction in functionality, but further work would be needed to handle
this case.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-90431?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-90431?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-90431 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90431 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-90431 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-90431 is an use after free 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-90431 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-2026-90431/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90431/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-90431
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-90431
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-90431

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-90431/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.