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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-46031

| EUVDEUVD-2026-32412 HIGH
Improper Locking (CWE-667)
2026-05-27 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 GHSA-29r5-5rhx-9h26
7.5
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
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Severity by source

Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) PRIMARY
7.5 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
SUSE
HIGH
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67).

CVSS VectorVendor: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
May 30, 2026 - 11:38 vuln.today
CVSS changed
May 30, 2026 - 11:22 NVD
7.5 (HIGH)
Patch available
May 27, 2026 - 19:46 EUVD
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
HIGH 7.5
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: ks8851: Reinstate disabling of BHs around IRQ handler

If the driver executes ks8851_irq() AND a TX packet has been sent, then the driver enables TX queue via netif_wake_queue() which schedules TX softirq to queue packets for this device.

If CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y is set AND a packet has also been received by the MAC, then ks8851_rx_pkts() calls netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() to allocate SKBs for the received packets. If netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() is called with BH enabled, then local_bh_enable() at the end of netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() will trigger the pending softirq processing, which may ultimately call the .xmit callback ks8851_start_xmit_par(). The ks8851_start_xmit_par() will try to lock struct ks8851_net_par .lock spinlock, which is already locked by ks8851_irq() from which ks8851_start_xmit_par() was called. This leads to a deadlock, which is reported by the kernel, including a trace listed below.

If CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT is not set, then since commit 0913ec336a6c0 ("net: ks8851: Fix deadlock with the SPI chip variant") the deadlock can also be triggered without received packet in the RX FIFO. The pending softirqs will be processed on return from spin_unlock_bh(&ks->statelock) in ks8851_irq(), which triggers the deadlock as well.

Fix the problem by disabling BH around critical sections, including the IRQ handler, thus preventing the net_tx_action() softirq from triggering during these critical sections. The net_tx_action() softirq is triggered once BH are re-enabled and at the end of the IRQ handler, once all the other IRQ handler actions have been completed.

__schedule from schedule_rtlock+0x1c/0x34 schedule_rtlock from rtlock_slowlock_locked+0x548/0x904 rtlock_slowlock_locked from rt_spin_lock+0x60/0x9c rt_spin_lock from ks8851_start_xmit_par+0x74/0x1a8 ks8851_start_xmit_par from netdev_start_xmit+0x20/0x44 netdev_start_xmit from dev_hard_start_xmit+0xd0/0x188 dev_hard_start_xmit from sch_direct_xmit+0xb8/0x25c sch_direct_xmit from __qdisc_run+0x1f8/0x4ec __qdisc_run from qdisc_run+0x1c/0x28 qdisc_run from net_tx_action+0x1f0/0x268 net_tx_action from handle_softirqs+0x1a4/0x270 handle_softirqs from __local_bh_enable_ip+0xcc/0xe0 __local_bh_enable_ip from __alloc_skb+0xd8/0x128 __alloc_skb from __netdev_alloc_skb+0x3c/0x19c __netdev_alloc_skb from ks8851_irq+0x388/0x4d4 ks8851_irq from irq_thread_fn+0x24/0x64 irq_thread_fn from irq_thread+0x178/0x28c irq_thread from kthread+0x12c/0x138 kthread from ret_from_fork+0x14/0x28

AnalysisAI

Denial of service in the Linux kernel ks8851 Ethernet driver allows a deadlock condition when handling concurrent IRQ and TX softirq processing on systems using the Micrel KS8851 MAC/PHY chip. The flaw manifests when the IRQ handler executes netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() with bottom-halves enabled, triggering pending softirq processing that re-enters the driver's xmit path and attempts to re-acquire an already-held spinlock. EPSS scores this at 0.02% (5th percentile) and no public exploit identified at time of analysis, consistent with a local hardware-dependent stability bug rather than a remotely weaponizable vulnerability.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability resides in drivers/net/ethernet/micrel/ks8851_common.c, the shared driver for the Micrel/Microchip KS8851 SPI/parallel Ethernet controller used in many embedded ARM systems. The root cause is a classic recursive spinlock acquisition: ks8851_irq() holds ks8851_net.lock, calls netdev_alloc_skb_ip_align() which ends with local_bh_enable(), and on PREEMPT_RT or post-commit 0913ec336a6c0 kernels this drains the softirq queue while still in the critical section, causing net_tx_action() to invoke ks8851_start_xmit_par() which tries to re-acquire the same spinlock. Although no CWE is assigned, this fits CWE-833 (Deadlock) and CWE-667 (Improper Locking). The fix wraps the IRQ handler critical sections with local_bh_disable()/local_bh_enable() so that softirqs are deferred until after the lock is released.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Linux 6.6.140, 6.12.86, 7.0.4, 6.18.27 or later on the corresponding stable branch matching your deployment. The upstream commits are published under https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/21f1707a8e978558dcb11b053855521e32ac0eec and the four sibling stable backports listed in the references. For systems that cannot immediately reboot to a patched kernel, the only practical workaround is to avoid PREEMPT_RT configurations and revert commit 0913ec336a6c0 locally - both have significant side effects (loss of real-time guarantees and reintroduction of the earlier SPI-variant deadlock respectively), so patching is strongly preferred. Disabling the KS8851 interface entirely prevents the deadlock but removes network connectivity on devices where this is the primary NIC.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: High
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Fixed

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CVE-2026-46031 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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