Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/xive: propagate IPI init errors to prevent use-after-free When xive_init_ipis() fails (e.g. irq_domain_alloc_irqs() fails), the error path frees the global xive_ipis array. However, xive_smp_probe() previously ignored this failure and proceeded to call xive_setup_cpu_ipi(), which dereferences the already-freed xive_ipis pointer -- a use-after-free. Now that xive_smp_probe() returns int (previous patch), propagate the error from xive_init_ipis() and xive_setup_cpu_ipi() through xive_smp_probe(). Check the return value in both pnv_smp_probe() and pSeries_smp_probe() so that IPI setup is aborted cleanly on failure, avoiding the use-after-free.
References6
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ea6238343691309e68308131c7e80c3ae05afea
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/411a3c016e7a95f5fa105a0587e07d0647a77727
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c9ab0c9cede9f149733d330e2d7d45341b71359
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/89e1caa5b0aafe23e9938d9a311e9d41baee583e
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/c554a8d376d5aea1b237ed6bef6f9fbfc550e67f
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e36b1c2eafcaaddefa70d55e6fda74cf6cda38af
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
7.4
HIGH
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 4 · as of 9 November 2026
Could this be exploited in your environment?
A patch closes the known hole. A penetration test shows what an attacker can still reach — with proof.