CVE-2026-89942

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Industrial I/O (IIO) buffer subsystem. An anonymous buffer handle, which maintains a reference to an IIO device, can be improperly released if it holds the last reference when the device is removed. This improper handling of a mutex during the buffer's release process leads to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could potentially exploit this to cause a system crash or achieve arbitrary code execution.

This vulnerability is evaluated with a Moderate severity rating because triggering the condition requires local access and specific hardware detachment events, restricting the blast radius primarily to a local denial of service. Standard enterprise server deployments rarely utilize Industrial I/O sensor devices or expose unprivileged buffer interfaces, significantly limiting exposure in typical production environments. Furthermore, triggering the use-after-free requires an unbind or physical device unplug while user-space handles remain open, operations that normally require elevated privileges or physical access.

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.