Linux Kernel Vulnerability in RTC Device Management

CVE-2026-98825

What is CVE-2026-98825?

In the Linux kernel, a vulnerability exists related to the RTC (Real-Time Clock) device management. Specifically, during the probing of the device, if the function devm_clk_get() returns an error pointer, this pointer is used directly in clk_get_rate() without proper validation. This oversight can lead to system crashes as the error pointer may be dereferenced, causing instability instead of returning a safe default value. A fix is implemented to ensure that this pointer is checked for errors using IS_ERR() before any further processing, aligning the handling with the existing checks in the code. This adjustment enhances the robustness of the RTC clock management, preventing unexpected behavior during the device's initialization phase.

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