---
id: "CVE-2026-99210"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-99210"]
title: "Linux kernel rocket accelerator driver: failed init leaves dangling error pointer"
severity: "unknown"
cvss: null
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "infrastructure"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["arm-rockchip", "infrastructure", "linux-kernel", "rocket-driver"]
not_affected_if: ["driver-not-loaded"]
published_at: "2026-10-28T11:17:42+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-28T11:32:37+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-28T11:33:51+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99210", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-28T11:32:37+00:00"}]
---

# Linux kernel rocket accelerator driver: failed init leaves dangling error pointer

In the Linux kernel's rocket accelerator driver, a failed device initialization leaves an error pointer stored in a shared variable, which a later probe can dereference. The sources do not state what an attacker can gain from this, beyond a crash-type fault in the kernel driver path.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- unknown

## Fix

- Update to a Linux kernel release that includes the upstream commit 'accel/rocket: clear rdev on device init failure'.

## Timeline

- 2026-10-28T11:32:37+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-99210

## From the sources

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

accel/rocket: clear rdev on device init failure

rocket_probe() stores the return value from rocket_device_init() in the
file-scoped rdev pointer before checking whether it is an error pointer.
If rocket_device_init() fails, rdev is left as an ERR_PTR.

The rdev pointer is also used as the marker for whether the shared rocket
device has already been initialized. A later core probe can therefore see
a non-NULL rdev, skip rocket_device_init(), and dereference the error
pointer when reading rdev->num_cores.

Save the error code and clear rdev before returning from the
rocket_device_init() failure path.

---

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