CVE-2026-90229

Host panic via undestroyed NVMe admin queue

Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 18, 2026

Use-after-free in the Linux Apple NVMe driver allows attackers to crash the host when controller initialization fails. The removal path drops the last queue reference without destroying the admin queue, leaving timeout work armed against freed queue state. The condition requires an Apple NVMe controller to fail during startup and be torn down immediately; the resulting timeout work triggers a kernel panic.

CVSS severity7.4
High
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Oct 19, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the Linux Apple NVMe driver allows attackers to crash the host when controller initialization fails. The removal path drops the last queue reference without destroying the admin queue, leaving timeout work armed against freed queue state. The condition requires an Apple NVMe controller to fail during startup and be torn down immediately; the resulting timeout work triggers a kernel panic.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-90229
Published
Sep 17, 2026
Updated
Sep 18, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 18, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.19
  2. Affected versionversion=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <215d1682f0bae495f3f9cf692b358116b7a18602
  3. Affected versionversion=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <5f6f4777b7a8676251139dbfbcdec3cb578f0e40
  4. Affected versionversion=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <87d5b9864c8118d26f54de4b66d2bddf2c659272
  5. Affected versionversion=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <bf51e306e3dcffd1a63ef09a7a39d28f3578dd2d
  6. Affected versionversion=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <c11685ee4eedc70f738b117a4a8c0fbe84cd79b3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.19; version=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <215d1682f0bae495f3f9cf692b358116b7a18602; version=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <5f6f4777b7a8676251139dbfbcdec3cb578f0e40; version=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <87d5b9864c8118d26f54de4b66d2bddf2c659272; version=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <bf51e306e3dcffd1a63ef09a7a39d28f3578dd2d; version=5bd2927aceba181b84286e00aa2f56e117e699c3 <c11685ee4eedc70f738b117a4a8c0fbe84cd79b3

Published CVSS scores

7.4Linux CNACVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.1Amazon LinuxCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 22, 2026Sep 28, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 28, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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