CVE-2026-98209 mmc: sdhci-of-aspeed: Remove children before releasing SDC resources
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Aspeed SDHCI driver allows local attackers to cause a system crash during device removal or probe failure.
- 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-2026-98209?
CVE-2026-98209 is an use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Oct 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:
mmc: sdhci-of-aspeed: Remove children before releasing SDC resources
Probe failure and removal leave SDHCI child devices registered after the parent clock and managed resources are released.
Unregister the OF children in reverse order before disabling the parent clock on both paths. Use of_platform_device_destroy() because manual child creation does not set the flag required by of_platform_depopulate().
This issue was identified during our ongoing static-analysis research while reviewing kernel code.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98209?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98209?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-98209 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98209 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-106293, BELL-CVE-2026-98209, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98209, GHSA-q4rm-j75j-m3m8, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98209.