CVE-2026-80939

Received Received - Intake

Kernel Panic in Linux Kernel on Reboot

Publication date: 2026-09-11

Last updated on: 2026-09-14

Assigner: kernel.org

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: wifi: rtw89: pci: add .shutdown callback to stop rfkill polling on reboot Since the hardware rfkill polling was introduced, arm64 platforms can panic with an asynchronous SError during warm reboot: SError Interrupt on CPU8, code 0x00000000be000011 -- SError Workqueue: events_power_efficient rfkill_poll [rfkill] rtw89_pci_ops_read8+0x94/0x160 [rtw89_pci] rtw89_core_rfkill_poll+0x50/0x1e0 [rtw89_core] rtw89_ops_rfkill_poll+0x40/0x68 [rtw89_core] ieee80211_rfkill_poll+0x3c/0x70 [mac80211] cfg80211_rfkill_poll+0x40/0x2a0 [cfg80211] rfkill_poll+0x30/0x88 [rfkill] Kernel panic - not syncing: Asynchronous SError Interrupt On the reboot path the kernel only runs device_shutdown(), which calls each driver's .shutdown callback; .remove is not invoked. The rtw89 PCI driver had no .shutdown callback, so nothing stopped the rfkill polling work while the platform was tearing the PCIe link down. Once the link is gone, the next MMIO read from the poll handler targets a non-responding device and is reported as a fatal asynchronous SError on arm64. Add rtw89_pci_shutdown(), wired to all rtw89 PCI device drivers, which sets a new RTW89_FLAG_SHUTDOWN flag (mirroring the USB RTW89_FLAG_UNPLUGGED pattern). When the flag is set, rtw89_ops_rfkill_poll() returns early, so no MMIO read is issued to the chip after shutdown begins and the SError no longer occurs. This does not call the full .remove path from .shutdown, to keep the shutdown handler minimal and avoid running the non-idempotent teardown twice.

CVSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-11

Last Modified

2026-09-14

Generated

2026-10-02

AI Q&A

2026-09-12

EPSS Evaluated

2026-09-30

NVD

CVE-2026-80939

EUVD

EUVD-2026-76262

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
rtw89	rtw89_pci	*

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's rtw89 Wi-Fi driver for PCI devices. It causes a kernel panic on arm64 platforms during warm reboot due to an asynchronous SError interrupt. The issue occurs because the driver's rfkill polling continues after the PCIe link is torn down, leading to a fatal error when the device no longer responds to memory-mapped I/O reads.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's rtw89 WiFi driver on arm64 platforms. Detection requires checking if the system uses the affected driver version and if rfkill polling is active during reboot. No direct commands are provided in the context to detect this issue.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can cause system crashes during reboot on affected Linux systems using the rtw89 Wi-Fi driver. Users may experience unexpected kernel panics, data loss, or system instability when rebooting their devices, particularly on arm64 platforms with specific Wi-Fi hardware.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability does not directly affect compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, or similar standards as it pertains to a kernel panic during system reboot on specific hardware platforms. Compliance impacts would only occur if the system failure led to data loss or unauthorized access, which is not indicated in the provided context.

Mitigation Strategies

Apply the kernel patch that adds the .shutdown callback to the rtw89 PCI driver. This stops rfkill polling during reboot, preventing the SError panic. Update to a kernel version containing the fix.

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