HIGH Introduced in 4.15
thunderbolt LoginSent UAF
CVE-2026-80989
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI6.8MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: thunderbolt: Mark the connection down when bringing it up fails Every failure path in tbnet_connected_work() undoes its own work and returns without clearing login_sent, so the connection still looks established. The next tbnet_tear_down() therefore takes its main branch and repeats a teardown that already happened: it stops rings that are already stopped, which is a dev_WARN() and fatal under panic_on_warn, and it releases net->remote_transmit_path even on the HopID mismatch path, where this connection never owned that id, silently freeing one that someone else is still using. Clear login_sent on those paths. That is enough for tbnet_tear_down() to leave the unwound state alone, and login_received has to stay set: it records that the peer has logged in and carries the transmit path it gave us, which nothing on this side can make the peer send again. Two things change beyond keeping the teardown out of the way: the logout request in that block is no longer sent, and the peer's next login request now re-queues our login work rather than connected_work, giving the connection a fresh login instead of a retry on stale state.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
Systems with Thunderbolt networking hardware are at risk when a malicious peer on the other end of a Thunderbolt cable sends a mismatched path ID during connection setup. The resulting use-after-free can corrupt kernel memory and, under panic_on_warn, the repeated teardown triggers a kernel panic. Physical access to a Thunderbolt port is required to exploit this vulnerability.
Vulnerability analysis
A failure during Thunderbolt networking connection setup leaves the connection marked as established even though all setup work was undone, so the next teardown repeats cleanup on already-torn-down resources. This double-teardown stops already-stopped DMA rings (triggering a kernel warning that is fatal when panic_on_warn is set) and, when the failure was a path-ID mismatch, releases a Thunderbolt path identifier that this connection never owned — silently freeing one that another connection is still using. The fix clears the connection-established flag on every failure path so the teardown routine leaves the already-unwound state alone. An attacker needs physical access to a Thunderbolt port and must be the peer on the other end of the cable, sending a mismatched path ID during connection setup to trigger the use-after-free.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.2 | 4.15 | 7.2.4 | d6c0af293129 |
| mainline | 4.15 | 7.3-rc1 | 3c8b26ebf525 |
| 6.6 | 4.15 | 6.6.157 | e0d4a17afde5 |
| 6.12 | 4.15 | 6.12.109 | ed1d6e3d735e |
| 6.18 | 4.15 | 6.18.50 | f01e6a35c440 |
| cip/6.12 | 4.15 | 6.12.111-cip32 | ed1d6e3d735e |