Vulnerability in Linux Kernel: Error Pointer Dereference in DMA Setup

CVE-2026-64168

What is CVE-2026-64168?

A vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel concerning the SPI driver for specific device operations. When the Direct Memory Access (DMA) setup fails during the device probing process, the driver incorrectly handles the fallback to Programmed Input/Output (PIO) mode. This can lead to dereferencing an error pointer if the dma.enabled flag is not properly checked, which may cause crashes or undefined behavior. The issue was addressed to ensure reliable memory management and prevent the release of DMA channels when probing errors occur.

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