Freed-memory access via unprotected debugfs reads
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux's adis16480 driver allows local users to access freed kernel memory via debugfs reads racing device unbind. The firmware_revision and firmware_date handlers omit debugfs_file_get(), so removal does not wait for active reads before unbind frees the iio_dev. Reaching the race requires an affected device and access to its debugfs files, normally restricted to root; consequences beyond the invalid memory access are not documented.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux's adis16480 driver allows local users to access freed kernel memory via debugfs reads racing device unbind. The firmware_revision and firmware_date handlers omit debugfs_file_get(), so removal does not wait for active reads before unbind frees the iio_dev. Reaching the race requires an affected device and access to its debugfs files, normally restricted to root; consequences beyond the invalid memory access are not documented.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98663
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 18, 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=4.16
- Affected versionversion=9bf94f836e32ea168ec7448a523c11480317ad79 <396b83106f5e7d16467049f0caabd10533c01a0e
- Affected versionversion=9bf94f836e32ea168ec7448a523c11480317ad79 <b7e507c6da8875da93b4130c8185e82a9dfd565c
- Affected versionversion=9bf94f836e32ea168ec7448a523c11480317ad79 <ce308ce18dedc18e9eeff8473892975e6fdd7aef
- Affected versionversion=9bf94f836e32ea168ec7448a523c11480317ad79 <e1dea54496f90a62318cf4eeaa1e9ef8316e92b6
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
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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