# CVE-2026-97411: net: ibm: emac: mal: fix potential system hang in mal_remove()

> A local attacker with high privileges can cause a system hang by removing the IBM EMAC MAL network driver module under specific conditions.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 3 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-103652, BELL-CVE-2026-97411, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97411, GHSA-wcg4-82x5-ppxc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97411

## What is CVE-2026-97411?

CVE-2026-97411 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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:

net: ibm: emac: mal: fix potential system hang in mal_remove()

napi_disable() is not idempotent and calling it on an already-disabled
or unenabled NAPI context will cause the kernel to spin indefinitely
waiting for the NAPI_STATE_SCHED bit to clear.

In mal_remove(), napi_disable() is called unconditionally. If no MACs were
registered, NAPI was never enabled. Also, if they were registered but
subsequently unregistered, NAPI was already disabled in
mal_unregister_commac(). In either case, calling napi_disable() causes
the kernel to hang upon module removal.

Fix this by only calling napi_disable() in mal_remove() if the commac list
is not empty (which implies NAPI is enabled).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97411?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-97411?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-97411 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97411 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-97411 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-97411 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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-2026-97411 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-2026-97411/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97411/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97411
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97411
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-97411

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97411/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.