Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98501

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156802

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 5.7 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98501

CWE-ID: CWE-416

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to potentially cause a denial of service through a kernel crash.

The vulnerability exists due to use-after-free in the Linux kernel ALPS HID driver when handling input reports after input device registration fails. A local user can trigger processing of a U1_SP_ABSOLUTE_REPORT_ID report during the registration failure window to cause u1_raw_event() to dereference the freed input2 device, potentially causing a kernel crash.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra-igx (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1070.72
linux-nvidia-tegra-igx (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1059.59
linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1070.72~20.04.1
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e55d76e6e8a756f6d87c241de975599f82b02fa
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/443f6b93442b10b972a16f57ceaaea75b77892b6
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/47e5e177e9e4e10da6f2759d5ce8d049e33efdc4
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5a8ad63158165bacd6a1d7420e0fe5364c913b06
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64f824dccfd316fd3db8ea1cc4e8a76ad6a02740
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/925da1d2a24787f24872de13a4680437c54de179
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d3aba3442798ce4a4c8ce3104d7b286d61e605f9
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ef8ca5bb4c8b9696f38b1bebce1c851baa02b77b

• Use-after-free in Linux kernel hid driver
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more
• Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia-tegra, linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15, linux-nvidia-tegra-igx
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-aws-5.15 and more