Linux Kernel Vulnerability in RTC Driver Impacting Alarm IRQ Initialization

CVE-2026-98847

What is CVE-2026-98847?

A vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel related to the real-time clock (RTC) driver's handling of alarm IRQ requests. Specifically, the issue arises when the device probe process does not fully initialize the Memory-Mapped I/O (MMIO) address and spinlock before enabling the interrupt request (IRQ) for the alarm. As a result, there is a risk that the IRQ handler could be executed while the device is still in the process of initialization, potentially leading to unpredictable behavior or system instability. Proper initialization of all necessary components is critical to maintaining secure and reliable operation.

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