CVE-2026-98198 PUBLISHED

hwmon: (pwm-fan) Stop RPM timer before freeing tach data

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 06.10.2026 Updated: 06.10.2026

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

hwmon: (pwm-fan) Stop RPM timer before freeing tach data

sample_timer() rearms the RPM timer and accesses the devm-managed ctx->tachs and ctx->pulses_per_revolution arrays. The cleanup action which stops the timer is registered before those arrays are allocated.

Since devres releases entries in reverse order, driver detach can free the arrays before pwm_fan_cleanup() shuts down the timer. A timer expiry in that window accesses the freed tach data.

With a KASAN kernel, a test-only kprobe delayed entry to pwm_fan_cleanup() while normal sysfs unbind ran. Each of three runs reported three four-byte reads and two four-byte writes in sample_timer() after its backing devm allocations had been freed. The helper did not invoke the timer callback, cleanup actions or free functions.

With the fix, three matching unbind runs completed without KASAN, BUG, WARNING, Oops or panic. Instrumentation confirmed that timer retirement completed before the first timer backing allocation was released.

Split timer retirement from the power cleanup and register its devres action after the timer backing data and IRQ actions are installed. This preserves the early power rollback action while ensuring the timer is retired before its backing data is released. Use timer_shutdown_sync() because the callback can rearm itself.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 01695410d4529e38fea6159fa9f1260c598290b0 to 1e824fdb14a187ce56697e803b02b1e86243a755 (excl.)
  • affected from 01695410d4529e38fea6159fa9f1260c598290b0 to a5ce3fe5335a24d0220958c6866830a6d5fa1cc0 (excl.)
  • affected from 01695410d4529e38fea6159fa9f1260c598290b0 to b48339b0a577783e4590a69e4cd2f2760ce33154 (excl.)
  • affected from 01695410d4529e38fea6159fa9f1260c598290b0 to 26d5ff79768548efb1e604bb6e8697c101e06269 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 5.12 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 5.12 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.112 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.54 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.8 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc4 to * (incl.)

References