Vulnerability · Published Jan 25, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2026-23009xhci: sideband: don't dereference freed ring when removing sideband endpoint

Medium 5.5

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 5% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)5.5Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 95.0% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack tooling1Public PoC

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xhci: sideband: don't dereference freed ring when removing sideband endpoint xhci_sideband_remove_endpoint() incorrecly assumes that the endpoint is running and has a valid transfer ring. Lianqin reported a crash during suspend/wake-up stress testing, and found the cause to be dereferencing a non-existing transfer ring 'ep->ring' during xhci_sideband_remove_endpoint(). The endpoint and its ring may be in unknown state if this function is called after xHCI was reinitialized in resume (lost power), or if device is being re-enumerated, disconnected or endpoint already dropped. Fix this by both removing unnecessary ring access, and by checking ep->ring exists before dereferencing it. Also make sure endpoint is running before attempting to stop it. Remove the xhci_initialize_ring_info() call during sideband endpoint removal as is it only initializes ring structure enqueue, dequeue and cycle state values to their starting values without changing actual hardware enqueue, dequeue and cycle state. Leaving them out of sync is worse than leaving it as it is. The endpoint will get freed in after this in most usecases. If the (audio) class driver want's to reuse the endpoint after offload then it is up to the class driver to ensure endpoint is properly set up.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:14linux6.18.8-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linuxno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-awsno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azureno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.176.17.0-1021.21~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcpno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.176.17.0-1021.24~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.176.17.0-41.41~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.176.17.0-1031.31UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1030.30UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracleno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.176.17.0-1019.19~24.04.3UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspino fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:25.10linux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23009

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux de66754e9f8029f8ae955a588959b99cab56b506 – before 34f6634dba87ef72b3c3a3a524be663adef7ab42de66754e9f8029f8ae955a588959b99cab56b506 – before dd83dc1249737b837ac5d57c81f2b0977c613d9f
Linux Linux 6.16

References