CVE-2026-43421 PUBLISHED

usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 01.05.2026 Published: 08.05.2026 Updated: 08.05.2026

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

usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move

The network device outlived its parent gadget device during disconnection, resulting in dangling sysfs links and null pointer dereference problems.

A prior attempt to solve this by removing SET_NETDEV_DEV entirely [1] was reverted due to power management ordering concerns and a NO-CARRIER regression.

A subsequent attempt to defer net_device allocation to bind [2] broke 1:1 mapping between function instance and network device, making it impossible for configfs to report the resolved interface name. This results in a regression where the DHCP server fails on pmOS.

Use device_move to reparent the net_device between the gadget device and /sys/devices/virtual/ across bind/unbind cycles. This preserves the network interface across USB reconnection, allowing the DHCP server to retain their binding.

Introduce gether_attach_gadget()/gether_detach_gadget() helpers and use __free(detach_gadget) macro to undo attachment on bind failure. The bind_count ensures device_move executes only on the first bind.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f2a4f9847617a0929d62025748384092e5f35cce.camel@crapouillou.net/ [2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/795ea759-7eaf-4f78-81f4-01ffbf2d7961@ixit.cz/

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 40d133d7f542616cf9538508a372306e626a16e9 to 93f116c3393a22acab96ad1bef12b2572eb80ca4 (excl.)
  • affected from 40d133d7f542616cf9538508a372306e626a16e9 to e584cb58a2ea7ff4d3a4bc43d5ca512ed3ecb77d (excl.)
  • affected from 40d133d7f542616cf9538508a372306e626a16e9 to 85acaba2f42b557499bab3608307f17bf13beb69 (excl.)
  • affected from 40d133d7f542616cf9538508a372306e626a16e9 to ec35c1969650e7cb6c8a91020e568ed46e3551b0 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.11 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.11 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.78 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.19 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.9 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0 to * (incl.)

References