CVE-2026-31509 PUBLISHED

nfc: nci: fix circular locking dependency in nci_close_device

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 09.03.2026 Published: 22.04.2026 Updated: 22.04.2026

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

nfc: nci: fix circular locking dependency in nci_close_device

nci_close_device() flushes rx_wq and tx_wq while holding req_lock. This causes a circular locking dependency because nci_rx_work() running on rx_wq can end up taking req_lock too:

nci_rx_work -> nci_rx_data_packet -> nci_data_exchange_complete -> __sk_destruct -> rawsock_destruct -> nfc_deactivate_target -> nci_deactivate_target -> nci_request -> mutex_lock(&ndev->req_lock)

Move the flush of rx_wq after req_lock has been released. This should safe (I think) because NCI_UP has already been cleared and the transport is closed, so the work will see it and return -ENETDOWN.

NIPA has been hitting this running the nci selftest with a debug kernel on roughly 4% of the runs.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to 7ed00a3edc8597fe2333f524401e2889aa1b5edf (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to 5eef9ebec7f5738f12cadede3545c05b34bf5ac3 (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to ca54e904a071aa65ef3ad46ba42d51aaac6b73b4 (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to eb435d150ca74b4d40f77f1a2266f3636ed64a79 (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to 1edc12d2bbcb7a8d0f1088e6fccb9d8c01bb1289 (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to d89b74bf08f067b55c03d7f999ba0a0e73177eb3 (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to 09143c0e8f3b03517e6233aad42f45c794d8df8e (excl.)
  • affected from 6a2968aaf50c7a22fced77a5e24aa636281efca8 to 4527025d440ce84bf56e75ce1df2e84cb8178616 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.2 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.2 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 5.10.253 to 5.10.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.203 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.168 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.131 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.80 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.21 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.11 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0 to * (incl.)

References