CVE record
CVE-2026-31426
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ACPI: EC: clean up handlers on probe failure in acpi_ec_setup() When ec_install_handlers() returns -EPROBE_DEFER on reduced-hardware platforms, it has already started the EC and installed the address space handler with the struct acpi_ec pointer as handler context. However, acpi_ec_setup() propagates the error without any cleanup. The caller acpi_ec_add() then frees the struct acpi_ec for non-boot instances, leaving a dangling handler context in ACPICA. Any subsequent AML evaluation that accesses an EC OpRegion field dispatches into acpi_ec_space_handler() with the freed pointer, causing a use-after-free: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mutex_lock (kernel/locking/mutex.c:289) Write of size 8 at addr ffff88800721de38 by task init/1 Call Trace: <TASK> mutex_lock (kernel/locking/mutex.c:289) acpi_ec_space_handler (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1362) acpi_ev_address_space_dispatch (drivers/acpi/acpica/evregion.c:293) acpi_ex_access_region (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:246) acpi_ex_field_datum_io (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:509) acpi_ex_extract_from_field (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfldio.c:700) acpi_ex_read_data_from_field (drivers/acpi/acpica/exfield.c:327) acpi_ex_resolve_node_to_value (drivers/acpi/acpica/exresolv.c:392) </TASK> Allocated by task 1: acpi_ec_alloc (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1424) acpi_ec_add (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1692) Freed by task 1: kfree (mm/slub.c:6876) acpi_ec_add (drivers/acpi/ec.c:1751) The bug triggers on reduced-hardware EC platforms (ec->gpe < 0) when the GPIO IRQ provider defers probing. Once the stale handler exists, any unprivileged sysfs read that causes AML to touch an EC OpRegion (battery, thermal, backlight) exercises the dangling pointer. Fix this by calling ec_remove_handlers() in the error path of acpi_ec_setup() before clearing first_ec. ec_remove_handlers() checks each EC_FLAGS_* bit before acting, so it is safe to call regardless of how far ec_install_handlers() progressed: -ENODEV (handler not installed): only calls acpi_ec_stop() -EPROBE_DEFER (handler installed): removes handler, stops EC
Amazon picks for vulnerability response
Product discovery links are localized to Amazon US when country data is available.
This page may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Hardware security keys
Physical MFA keys for admin accounts, cloud consoles, password managers, and incident response workflows.
Security engineering books
Books on secure design, incident response, threat modeling, cloud security, and practical defense.
Ethernet cable testers
Portable testers for validating office, rack, home lab, and troubleshooting cable runs.
Vulnerability metadata
- Published
- 2026-04-13T08:46:12.600Z
- Modified
- 2026-05-20T12:25:22.650Z
- EPSS
- Not available
- Vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Recommended platforms
Affiliate-supported recommendations for CVE-2026-31426 vulnerability response.
This page may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Security engineering books
Browse practical security, incident response, cloud security, and secure coding books for team learning.
Cloud security platform
Continuously review cloud posture, exposed services, identity risks, and misconfigurations.
Monitoring and incident response
Track uptime, logs, traces, TLS expiry, API latency, and production security signals.