CVE-2026-97475
Received Received - Intake

Memory Leak Fix in Linux Kernel Thermal Driver

Publication date: 2026-09-24

Last updated on: 2026-09-24

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal/drivers/tegra/soctherma: Switch to devm cooling device registration Use devm_thermal_of_cooling_device_register() to simplify resource management and avoid manual cleanup in error paths. As a side effect this change has the benefit of solving an existing issue. Before, the function tegra_soctherm_remove() only called debugfs_remove_recursive() and never called thermal_cooling_device_unregister() for any of the cooling devices registered here. After the driver removal, the thermal framework's cdev list would still hold references to thermal_cooling_device objects whose devdata pointer (ts) pointed to memory already freed by the platform device's devm cleanup. With this change, the cooling device is unregistered when the driver is removed, thus fixing the issue above.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-09-24
Last Modified
2026-09-24
Generated
2026-09-24
AI Q&A
2026-09-24
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-97475
EUVD
EUVD-2026-86073

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel *

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Exploitability

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CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability in the Linux kernel involves improper resource management in the Tegra SoC thermal driver. The issue occurs because the driver's removal function did not unregister cooling devices, leaving dangling references in the thermal framework's device list after memory was freed.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability is specific to the Linux kernel's thermal driver for Tegra SoCs. Detection involves checking if your system uses the affected driver and kernel version. Inspect loaded kernel modules with lsmod | grep tegra_soctherm and verify kernel version with uname -a. If the driver is loaded and the kernel is vulnerable, the issue may manifest as memory leaks or crashes during driver removal.

Impact Analysis

The vulnerability could lead to system instability or crashes during driver removal due to memory corruption or use-after-free scenarios. It may also cause thermal management failures if cooling devices remain improperly registered.

Mitigation Strategies

Update your Linux kernel to a patched version where this issue is resolved. Monitor kernel updates from your distribution and apply them promptly. If updating is not immediately possible, avoid unloading the tegra_soctherm driver to prevent the memory leak issue.

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