Kernel panic via cleanup of uninitialized module state
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Cleanup errors in Linux 5.12 VMBus allow local users to panic the kernel by unloading the module in a non-nested root partition. The hv_acpi_init() function reports success without initializing VMBus in this configuration, but module exit cleans up uninitialized resources and causes memory faults. Triggering the failure requires privileged module-unload access on a non-nested Hyper-V root partition; the documented consequence is a kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Cleanup errors in Linux 5.12 VMBus allow local users to panic the kernel by unloading the module in a non-nested root partition. The hv_acpi_init() function reports success without initializing VMBus in this configuration, but module exit cleans up uninitialized resources and causes memory faults. Triggering the failure requires privileged module-unload access on a non-nested Hyper-V root partition; the documented consequence is a kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90097
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=5.12
- Affected versionversion=7e279d78664aa91107ebff4b03eca367967f5908 <4c19c302cc577bd6b466f6d8e97971777392c2fa
- Affected versionversion=7e279d78664aa91107ebff4b03eca367967f5908 <aa17842bbccaeaba7d05c166019d1c96a41bca54
- Affected versionversion=7e279d78664aa91107ebff4b03eca367967f5908 <cee0d90bceae1dee3bcc70f8d6b2ceb5b87deb42
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
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