CVE-2026-98344: Linux

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: Fix device kref underflow in dma_chan_put() dma_chan_get() takes chan->device->ref only on the slow path: /* no kref on fast path */ if (chan->client_count) { __module_get(owner); chan->client_count++; return 0; } if (!try_module_get(owner)) return -ENODEV; if (!dma_device_get(chan->device)) { // calls kref_get_unless_zero() dma_chan_put() drops the ref unconditionally, so every fast-path get/put pair drops one extra device reference. The bug fires when two conditions hold together: a non-private provider has a persistent client holding chan->client_count > 0 and another client cycles dmaengine_get()/dmaengine_put(). When the kref hits zero, the subsequent dma_find_channel() returns NULL even though the provider module is still loaded. Fix this by dropping device->ref only on the last put, matching the single slow-path get.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 5.6, before 5.10.271 (fixed in 5.10.271); from 5.11, before 5.15.222 (fixed in 5.15.222); from 5.16, before 6.1.189 (fixed in 6.1.189); from 6.2, before 6.6.158 (fixed in 6.6.158); from 6.7, before 6.12.112 (fixed in 6.12.112); from 6.13, before 6.18.54 (fixed in 6.18.54); …

Published 2026-10-06. Last modified 2026-10-06.