Unspecified impact via uninitialized cpufreq policy semaphore
Published Sep 25, 2026 · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Race condition in the Linux kernel cpufreq subsystem allows attackers to cause unspecified impact through concurrent sysfs access. cpufreq_policy_alloc publishes a policy kobject and its default attributes before initializing policy->rwsem, allowing a callback to use the uninitialized semaphore. The condition requires sysfs access during the brief policy-publication window; public sources do not identify the resulting failure mode.
Summary
What happened
Race condition in the Linux kernel cpufreq subsystem allows attackers to cause unspecified impact through concurrent sysfs access. cpufreq_policy_alloc publishes a policy kobject and its default attributes before initializing policy->rwsem, allowing a callback to use the uninitialized semaphore. The condition requires sysfs access during the brief policy-publication window; public sources do not identify the resulting failure mode.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-97904
- Published
- Sep 25, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 25, 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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=2fc3384dc75bf7333384c7a16d12c796f61c3f56 <27c9b491bf7604e83b50c3bbfa18a30266ff345f
- Affected versionversion=2fc3384dc75bf7333384c7a16d12c796f61c3f56 <2cee937f779f69b195b37bbec1e888da9bfe9d58
- Affected versionversion=2fc3384dc75bf7333384c7a16d12c796f61c3f56 <3e5d1bf4bd687beb2cb4e32a07af695455925588
- Affected versionversion=2fc3384dc75bf7333384c7a16d12c796f61c3f56 <dc11263cb05ed519758fd135fe08d611bad1f241
- Affected versionversion=4.2
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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.
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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