CVE-2026-80556
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's atmel-mci component. A race condition during the removal of the atmel-mci module can lead to a use-after-free vulnerability. This occurs when work items related to the module are still pending or running after the associated memory has been freed. This flaw could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service or potentially achieve privilege escalation.
Statement
A moderate use-after-free vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's atmel-mci (Atmel MultiMedia Card Interface) driver. When the atmel-mci module is being removed, a race condition can leave the bottom-half work item, which may be queued by the interrupt handler, the timeout timer, or the DMA completion callback, still pending or running after the memory allocated for the host structure has been freed, resulting in a use-after-free. A local attacker could exploit this race to cause a denial of service (kernel panic) or potentially escalate privileges. All Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS kernel, kernel-rt, and kernel-ivos-qualcomm packages are not affected by this flaw because the vulnerable atmel-mci driver code is not present in the shipped Red Hat kernels. The upstream CVE record rates this flaw as important (CVSS 7.8) with potential confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact, while Red Hat rates it moderate (CVSS 5.5) because the most likely consequence of this use-after-free is loss of availability.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
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