CVE-2026-98825
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Microchip PolarFire Real-Time Clock (RTC) driver. During device probing or driver initialization, this flaw can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) through a kernel crash. The driver fails to verify whether acquiring the reference clock returned an error before requesting its rate. When the dependent clock provider has not yet registered, the driver dereferences an error pointer instead of deferring initialization, causing the system to crash.
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 | 4.1 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | High | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability,Integrity
Technical Impact: Unexpected State; Varies by Context; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
The product could be prevented from detecting unexpected states and conditions, placing the product into a state that could lead to a crash or other unintended behaviors.
Access Control
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
If the method/function is used for a protection mechanism, then an unchecked return value could prevent the code from being able to see if the protection mechanism fails. For example, if the program calls a function to drop privileges but does not check the return code to ensure that privileges were successfully dropped, then the program will continue to operate with the higher privileges.
Frequently Asked Questions
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