CVE-2026-97904 cpufreq: initialize policy rwsem before sysfs publication
A race condition in the Linux kernel cpufreq subsystem allows local attackers to trigger a denial of service by accessing uninitialized sysfs attributes.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-97904?
CVE-2026-97904 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 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:
cpufreq: initialize policy rwsem before sysfs publication
cpufreq_policy_alloc() initializes policy->rwsem after kobject_init_and_add() has created the policy sysfs directory and its default attributes. A sysfs access can therefore reach a policy callback before the semaphore has been initialized.
Initialize policy->rwsem before publishing the policy kobject so sysfs callbacks always see an initialized semaphore.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97904?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97904?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-97904 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97904 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-104262, BELL-CVE-2026-97904, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97904, GHSA-73ff-5qgw-vhj7, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97904.