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CVE-2026-43421

Status: ModifiedMedium (5.5)—

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

usb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move

The network device outlived its parent gadget device during disconnection, resulting in dangling sysfs links and null pointer dereference problems.

A prior attempt to solve this by removing SET_NETDEV_DEV entirely [1] was reverted due to power management ordering concerns and a NO-CARRIER regression.

A subsequent attempt to defer net_device allocation to bind [2] broke 1:1 mapping between function instance and network device, making it impossible for configfs to report the resolved interface name. This results in a regression where the DHCP server fails on pmOS.

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Use device_move to reparent the net_device between the gadget device and /sys/devices/virtual/ across bind/unbind cycles. This preserves the network interface across USB reconnection, allowing the DHCP server to retain their binding.

Introduce gether_attach_gadget()/gether_detach_gadget() helpers and use __free(detach_gadget) macro to undo attachment on bind failure. The bind_count ensures device_move executes only on the first bind.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f2a4f9847617a0929d62025748384092e5f35cce.camel@crapouillou.net/ [2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/795ea759-7eaf-4f78-81f4-01ffbf2d7961@ixit.cz/

CVSS

Exploitation probability (EPSS)

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST) estimates how likely a vulnerability is to be exploited in the wild within 30 days. It complements CVSS (impact) and CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).

Affected technologies (1)

Linux — Linux Kernel

CWEs

References

Raw JSON (NVD)

Show
{
  "id": "CVE-2026-43421",
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          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
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      "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nusb: gadget: f_ncm: Fix net_device lifecycle with device_move\n\nThe network device outlived its parent gadget device during\ndisconnection, resulting in dangling sysfs links and null pointer\ndereference problems.\n\nA prior attempt to solve this by removing SET_NETDEV_DEV entirely [1]\nwas reverted due to power management ordering concerns and a NO-CARRIER\nregression.\n\nA subsequent attempt to defer net_device allocation to bind [2] broke\n1:1 mapping between function instance and network device, making it\nimpossible for configfs to report the resolved interface name. This\nresults in a regression where the DHCP server fails on pmOS.\n\nUse device_move to reparent the net_device between the gadget device and\n/sys/devices/virtual/ across bind/unbind cycles. This preserves the\nnetwork interface across USB reconnection, allowing the DHCP server to\nretain their binding.\n\nIntroduce gether_attach_gadget()/gether_detach_gadget() helpers and use\n__free(detach_gadget) macro to undo attachment on bind failure. The\nbind_count ensures device_move executes only on the first bind.\n\n[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f2a4f9847617a0929d62025748384092e5f35cce.camel@crapouillou.net/\n[2] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-usb/795ea759-7eaf-4f78-81f4-01ffbf2d7961@ixit.cz/"
    }
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