Kernel crash via premature PHY pointer dereference
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
NULL dereference in the Qualcomm QMP USB PHY driver in Linux 6.6 allows local users to crash the kernel via early runtime suspend. The qmp_usb_runtime_suspend() and qmp_usb_runtime_resume() callbacks read qmp->phy->init_count before the PHY pointer is initialized. Exposure requires the affected driver and a callback during initialization, either between pm_runtime_enable() and pm_runtime_forbid() or after runtime power management is re-enabled through sysfs; the reported consequence is a crash, not data disclosure or code execution.
Summary
What happened
NULL dereference in the Qualcomm QMP USB PHY driver in Linux 6.6 allows local users to crash the kernel via early runtime suspend. The qmp_usb_runtime_suspend() and qmp_usb_runtime_resume() callbacks read qmp->phy->init_count before the PHY pointer is initialized. Exposure requires the affected driver and a callback during initialization, either between pm_runtime_enable() and pm_runtime_forbid() or after runtime power management is re-enabled through sysfs; the reported consequence is a crash, not data disclosure or code execution.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90280
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
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
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=6.6
- Affected versionversion=e464a3180a43b6596bd267f9f274e1793bfb8150 <03455404fb6cbfd65842695df26739853fc1516b
- Affected versionversion=e464a3180a43b6596bd267f9f274e1793bfb8150 <142c5593379273264474f31d5956b1a0065cd576
- Affected versionversion=e464a3180a43b6596bd267f9f274e1793bfb8150 <5547fd950d6bf72de861b6934341e7bb0888640c
- Affected versionversion=e464a3180a43b6596bd267f9f274e1793bfb8150 <9b28287c5dea7650e6dd317591b9e82b6e145365
- Affected versionversion=e464a3180a43b6596bd267f9f274e1793bfb8150 <f4e39ab1b2009a89c60e4cb9dbefb8140d405eff
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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