Freed-memory access via dangling RTC clock provider
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux's AC100 RTC driver allows attackers to trigger freed-memory reads through clock lookups after probe failure. ac100_rtc_probe() leaves a clock provider referencing freed chip->clk_data when RTC registration fails with -ENOMEM. Reaching the flaw requires AC100 hardware and a subsequent consumer lookup; attacker control and consequences beyond invalid memory access and failed reprobes are not established.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux's AC100 RTC driver allows attackers to trigger freed-memory reads through clock lookups after probe failure. ac100_rtc_probe() leaves a clock provider referencing freed chip->clk_data when RTC registration fails with -ENOMEM. Reaching the flaw requires AC100 hardware and a subsequent consumer lookup; attacker control and consequences beyond invalid memory access and failed reprobes are not established.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98826
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- 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?
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- Affected versionversion=4.9
- Affected versionversion=d00a18a42c1483924de086ddfb0efe8da1dba3ac <12bcd20d76703ee2baf52224d287b7fea096b12f
- Affected versionversion=d00a18a42c1483924de086ddfb0efe8da1dba3ac <55ca60ba336632349f7c4585d22ba74ae355b7ce
- Affected versionversion=d00a18a42c1483924de086ddfb0efe8da1dba3ac <9cff19ddd7f90c1f572a0f83cfc41de8f8dcbcd8
- Affected versionversion=d00a18a42c1483924de086ddfb0efe8da1dba3ac <fcf0b58e976e83adf246b014518e49c662b96f5e
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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