CVE-2021-46986: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: dwc3: gadget: Free gadget structure only after freeing endpoints As part of commit e8

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: dwc3: gadget: Free gadget structure only after freeing endpoints As part of commit e8

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: dwc3: gadget: Free gadget structure only after freeing endpoints As part of commit e81a7018d93a ("usb: dwc3: allocate gadget structure dynamically") the dwc3_gadget_release() was added which will free the dwc->gadget structure upon the device's removal when usb_del_gadget_udc() is called in dwc3_gadget_exit(). However, simply freeing the gadget results a dangling pointer situation: the endpoints created in dwc3_gadget_init_endpoints() have their dep->endpoint.ep_list members chained off the list_head anchored at dwc->gadget->ep_list. Thus when dwc->gadget is freed, the first dwc3_ep in the list now has a dangling prev pointer and likewise for the next pointer of the dwc3_ep at the tail of the list. The dwc3_gadget_free_endpoints() that follows will result in a use-after-free when it calls list_del(). This was caught by enabling KASAN and performing a driver unbind. The recent commit 568262bf5492 ("usb: dwc3: core: Add shutdown callback for dwc3") also exposes this as a panic during shutdown. There are a few possibilities to fix this. One could be to perform a list_del() of the gadget->ep_list itself whi

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.23%, higher than 13% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 31, 2026, updated daily.

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Sources

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