Improper initialization in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98971

Vulnerability identifier: #VU157539

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 1.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98971

CWE-ID: CWE-665

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to disrupt device ID allocation and potentially cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to improper initialization of the stored device ID in gpio_exar_probe() when cleanup-action registration fails during device probing. A local privileged user can trigger a device initialization attempt that encounters this failure to cause exar_devm_ida_free() to release ID 0 instead of the allocated ID, potentially leaking a nonzero ID and incorrectly releasing ID 0 belonging to another device.

Linux kernel
SUSE Linux Micro
SUSE Linux Micro Extras
kernel-default
kernel-64kb
kernel-64kb-debugsource
kernel-64kb-devel
kernel-default-devel
kernel-syms
kernel-obs-build
kernel-obs-build-debugsource
kernel-default-debugsource
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
kernel-default - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-64kb-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-syms - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-obs-build-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-debugsource - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1
kernel-default-devel-debuginfo - update to 6.4.0-159998.55.1

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/01318927a9055136c207399eeb36ce07becac179
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4d69e74034b208588636ecc177e0dd43a7696af3
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b78c114600ae3df90c083c72c290437b068577c8
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf3d841ef12fcbec4458e2750956b738b043a226
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f7ec4dbd2a073dd53b6349be1c586fe8580dd6b2

• Improper initialization in Linux kernel gpio driver
• SUSE update for the Linux Kernel