{"id":"CVE-2026-99001","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-99001"],"related":[],"title":"Linux kernel: Intel Xe I2C driver can use freed memory on removal","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\ndrm/xe/i2c: cancel the client work on remove\n\nxe_i2c_notifier() stores the DesignWare adapter in i2c->adapter and\nschedules i2c->work when the adapter is registered under the xe I2C\nplatform device, and xe_i2c_client_work() then instantiates the AMC\nclient device on that adapter.\n\nxe_i2c_remove() tears down the AMC, unregisters the client devices,\nthe bus notifier and the adapter platform device, but it never drains\ni2c->work. A work item that is still queued or running when the\nadapter is unregistered dereferences i2c->adapter in\ni2c_new_client_device() after platform_device_unregister() has\nreleased the adapter. The work item is also embedded in the\ndevm-allocated struct xe_i2c, so a work item still queued after the\ndrm device devm unwind frees that allocation runs its callback on\nfreed memory.\n\nThe bus notifier is the only thing that schedules this work, and it is\nunregistered after the client devices. An instance that is still queued\nwhen the teardown runs can therefore write\ni2c->client[XE_I2C_CLIENT_AMC] while the loop is unregistering and\nclearing the same array, and an AMC client it instantiates late is only\ncleaned up by the adapter's own child sweep in i2c_del_adapter().\n\nMove bus_unregister_notifier() in front of the client teardown loop\nand cancel the work right after it, so no new instance can be\nscheduled and a queued instance is drained before the client array is\ntouched. A running instance still finds a live adapter, since the\nadapter is unregistered later.\n\n(cherry picked from commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20)","summary":"In the Linux kernel's Intel Xe graphics I2C support, a deferred work item is not cancelled when the device is removed, so it can run against a freed adapter or freed memory. The sources do not say what an attacker gets beyond a kernel memory-safety crash or corruption.","severity":"unknown","cvss":null,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["drm","intel-xe","linux-kernel","other"],"not_affected_if":["no-xe-driver"],"how_to_check":"- Run `uname -r` and check whether the running kernel includes commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20 (unknown from the sources how to confirm this for a distribution kernel)\n- Check whether the Intel Xe graphics driver (drm/xe) with the I2C client support is loaded, for example with `lsmod | grep xe` (unknown whether this is the exact check the sources intend)","fix":"- Update the Linux kernel to a release that includes commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20 (exact fixed version unknown from the sources)","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-23T13:17:22+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:33+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-25T04:55:59+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-25T04:55:59+00:00","category":"other","confidence":0.4,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-25T04:55:59Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- Update the Linux kernel to a release that includes commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20 (exact fixed version unknown from the sources)","reach":"local","title":"Linux kernel: Intel Xe I2C driver can use freed memory on removal","impact":"medium","summary":"In the Linux kernel's Intel Xe graphics I2C support, a deferred work item is not cancelled when the device is removed, so it can run against a freed adapter or freed memory. The sources do not say what an attacker gets beyond a kernel memory-safety crash or corruption.","category":"other","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["linux-kernel","intel-xe","drm"],"confidence":0.4,"needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"unknown; kernel memory use-after-free on device removal","analyst_note":"Check the upstream kernel commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20 and the NVD entry for CVSS and affected kernel version ranges.","how_to_check":"- Run `uname -r` and check whether the running kernel includes commit a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20 (unknown from the sources how to confirm this for a distribution kernel)\n- Check whether the Intel Xe graphics driver (drm/xe) with the I2C client support is loaded, for example with `lsmod | grep xe` (unknown whether this is the exact check the sources intend)","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-xe-driver"],"who_is_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the Intel Xe DRM driver and its I2C client support, typically machines with Intel Xe-based graphics where the AMC client is instantiated. Systems without the xe driver, or that are not running an affected kernel build, can skip it. The sources do not say which distributions or kernel versions are affected.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"unknown","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.00073,"input_tokens":3796,"output_tokens":700,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':14A,17A '-99001':15A,18A 'a23f27d5ec11c3f418c5e5531eea34ccda2b5b20':348C 'adapt':55B,100C,103C,110C,132C,149C,169C,174C,187C,284C,292C,337C,340C 'alloc':198C,216C 'also':192C 'amc':127C,139C,260C,273C 'array':270C,327C 'attack':66B 'beyond':68B 'bus':145C,224C,294C 'callback':219C 'cancel':42B,88C,305C 'cherri':344C 'child':287C 'clean':280C 'clear':267C 'client':90C,122C,128C,142C,178C,240C,256C,259C,274C,301C,326C 'commit':347C 'corrupt':76B 'crash':74B 'cve':13A,16A 'defer':37B 'del':291C 'derefer':172C 'designwar':99C 'devic':45B,118C,129C,143C,151C,179C,182C,211C,241C 'devm':197C,212C 'devm-alloc':196C 'drain':155C,323C 'driver':6A 'drm':19B,210C 'drm/xe/i2c':87C 'embed':193C 'find':334C 'follow':82C 'free':214C 'freed':9A,54B,57B,221C 'front':298C 'get':67B 'graphic':33B 'i2c':5A,34B,95C,102C,106C,116C,121C,134C,156C,173C,176C,201C,255C,258C,290C 'instanc':243C,314C,321C,332C 'instanti':125C,276C 'intel':3A,21B,31B 'intel-x':20B 'item':39B,160C,190C,205C 'kernel':2A,25B,29B,70B,80C 'late':277C 'later':343C 'linux':1A,24B,28B,79C 'linux-kernel':23B 'live':336C 'loop':263C,303C 'memori':10A,58B,72B,222C 'memory-safeti':71B 'move':293C 'never':154C 'new':177C,313C 'notifi':96C,146C,225C,296C 'pick':345C 'platform':117C,150C,181C 'queu':164C,207C,247C,320C 'regist':112C 'releas':185C 'remov':12A,47B,93C,135C 'resolv':86C 'right':308C 'run':51B,166C,217C,251C,331C 'safeti':73B 'say':63B 'schedul':105C,231C,317C 'sinc':338C 'sourc':60B 'still':163C,206C,246C,333C 'store':97C 'struct':199C 'support':35B 'sweep':288C 'tear':136C 'teardown':250C,302C 'therefor':253C 'thing':229C 'touch':329C 'unregist':140C,171C,183C,237C,265C,295C,342C 'unwind':213C 'use':8A 'vulner':83C 'work':38B,91C,107C,123C,157C,159C,189C,204C,233C,307C 'write':254C 'xe':4A,22B,32B,94C,115C,120C,133C,200C,257C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the Intel Xe DRM driver and its I2C client support, typically machines with Intel Xe-based graphics where the AMC client is instantiated. Systems without the xe driver, or that are not running an affected kernel build, can skip it. The sources do not say which distributions or kernel versions are affected.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-23T13:17:22+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":null,"cvss_by":null,"poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-99001","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99001","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-23T13:17:22+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-23T13:17:22+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:33+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T22:29:03+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}