CVE-2026-64205

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's i2c-i801 driver. This vulnerability allows a local attacker to trigger a hardware state machine corruption during error handling. This can lead to a denial of service (DoS), where the system becomes unresponsive due to a continuous stream of error messages and CPU resource exhaustion.

This vulnerability is assessed as having a Moderate severity because exploitation requires local system access and is confined to a denial of service without affecting confidentiality or data integrity. On systems utilizing Intel SMBus hardware, triggering concurrent access errors can desynchronize the controller state and induce massive console logging, ultimately leading to a kernel watchdog panic. Systems running on non-Intel hardware or environments where unprivileged users lack access to SMBus device nodes are not exposed to this flaw.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options don't meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base or stability.