Medium [CVE-2026-68332] Linux kernel: airoha driver use-after-free vulnerability
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-68332 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: airoha: Fix potential use-after-free in airoha_ppe_deinit() airoha_ppe_deinit() replaces the NPU pointer with NULL via rcu_replace_pointer() but does not wait for existing RCU readers to exit before calling ppe_deinit() and airoha_npu_put().
This can cause a use-after-free if a reader in an RCU read-side critical section still holds a reference to the NPU when it is freed.
The init path (airoha_ppe_init) already calls synchronize_rcu() after rcu_assign_pointer(), but the deinit path introduced in commit 6abcf751bc08 ("net: airoha: Fix schedule while atomic in airoha_ppe_deinit()") omitted the matching barrier when switching from rcu_read_lock()/rcu_dereference() to rcu_replace_pointer().
Add synchronize_rcu() before ppe_deinit() to ensure all existing RCU readers have completed before the NPU resources are released. A flaw was found in the `airoha` network driver within the Linux kernel.
This vulnerability, a use-after-free, occurs because the `airoha_ppe_deinit()` function fails to properly synchronize memory deallocation with ongoing operations. An attacker could potentially exploit this to cause system instability or a denial of service.
Red Hat severity: Important — CVSS 5.9 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). Weakness: CWE-414.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
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