# CVE-2026-97969: watchdog: msc313e: Fix clock leak and spurious timer in settimeout()

> A local attacker with high privileges can cause a clock reference leak and spurious timer activation in the MSC313E watchdog driver, leading to potential denial of service.

- **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:** 25 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-104220, BELL-CVE-2026-97969, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97969, GHSA-c6r8-8m99-q662, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97969

## What is CVE-2026-97969?

CVE-2026-97969 is a denial of service 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:

watchdog: msc313e: Fix clock leak and spurious timer in settimeout()

msc313e_wdt_settimeout() unconditionally calls msc313e_wdt_start() which
introduces two severe bugs:

1. If the watchdog is already active, calling start() again will
   increase the reference count of the clock again.  However stop() is
   only called once, the reference count is unbalance.
2. If the watchdog is stopped, calling settimeout() will start
   the hardware timer accidentally.

Factor out the register-writing logic into a helper function.  Only call
it in settimeout() if the watchdog is running.  Otherwise, simply update
`wdev->timeout`.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97969?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-97969?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-97969 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97969 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-97969 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-97969 is a denial of service 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97969 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-2026-97969/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97969/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97969
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97969
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-97969

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97969/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.