* [CVE-2026-90281][LOW] phy: qcom: snps-femto-v2: Fix possible NULL-deref on early runtime suspend [ Upstream
@ 2026-09-17 21:00 21% AL-KERNEL
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From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-17 21:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-90281
Priority: LOW
AL-KERNEL base severity: LOW
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: phy: qcom: snps-femto-v2: Fix possible NULL-deref on early runtime suspend [ Upstream
Commit: 0c5c08c94dd64c05679970d4eed8b06d36a889a8
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=0c5c08c94dd64c05679970d4eed8b06d36a889a8
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-90281
Analysis date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 17:00:15 -0400
ActionableScore: 1
ActionableScore lower bound: 0
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-90281 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-90281
The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.
The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.
Published priority for this report: LOW
Manual review required: NO
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-90281 LOW https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-90281 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN LOW Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';**CWE-476;CWE-362;CWE-665;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '4.7';DESCR 'A NULL pointer dereference can occur in the Qualcomm SNPS femto USB PHY driver because runtime PM suspend callbacks may run before the PHY object and driver state are fully initialized during probe. The vulnerable window is early device initialization, where the callback can observe incomplete state and crash the kernel. For the CVSS the PR:L is used only for the paranoid score because some systems may delegate device or runtime PM control to a local service or reduced privilege management context. The more typical trigger requires administrator level control over driver binding, module loading, or runtime PM sysfs operations. The issue is not network reachable and requires local interaction with the affected device or its power management path. Impact is denial of service via kernel crash only.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1) YES NULLPTR HARDWARE LINUS MEMORY DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS_AND_CIANNH DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 YES NO checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=1
ActionableScoreLower=0
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=NO
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 0. Computed as +1 reliable kernel crash, -1 narrow early probe runtime PM window, -1 hardware specific local device path, clamped from -1 to 0.
* Conservative score: 0. No floor applies.
* Raw paranoid score: 1. Computed as +1 reliable kernel crash only, with timing and hardware exposure penalties withheld for the higher still defensible interpretation.
* Paranoid score: 1. No floor applies.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::
2. Signal breakdown
Positive signals:
* +1 Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS. The runtime suspend callback may dereference an hsphy instance before it is fully initialized, causing a NULL pointer dereference and possible kernel crash.
Negative signals for conservative score:
* -1 Hard or narrow timing. The vulnerable condition exists only during an early probe window before PHY creation is complete.
* -1 Hardware specific local device path. The issue requires an affected Qualcomm SNPS femto USB PHY driver path and is not a generic kernel interface that an attacker can instantiate broadly.
Non-awarded signals:
* No UAF signal. The patch establishes an early NULL pointer dereference, not post-lifetime use.
* No concrete repeated release/refcount operation exists.
* No controlled reclaim, arbitrary write, directed write, callback control, or type confusion is demonstrated.
* No confidentiality or integrity signal is awarded.
* No remote reachability is established.
* No extra availability point is awarded because the same crash is already counted once.
3. Reachability analysis
The most direct intentional trigger would involve driver probe, device binding, module loading, runtime PM state, or sysfs power-management control for the affected platform device. Those operations are commonly administrator-controlled, but the supplied evidence does not fully prove that every possible trigger path requires host-admin-equivalent privilege, because runtime PM callbacks can also be scheduled by normal kernel PM behavior during device initialization.
There is no evidence that an ordinary unprivileged user can reliably trigger the complete sequence. There is also no evidence that the complete operation is namespace-scoped. No network trigger is present. The issue is tied to local device initialization and power management on systems with the affected Qualcomm PHY. Race repeatability appears limited because the vulnerable window is short and occurs during probe before the PHY is ready.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact primitive is an invalid NULL pointer dereference in a runtime PM callback due to incomplete driver initialization ordering. This is Class C behavior: crash or invalid-state DoS without an independently useful corruption primitive.
The stale-use model is not active structured UAF and not fixed stale storage. It is an early initialization NULL dereference. There is no first lifetime operation that may free an object and no second lifetime/refcount mutation through the same reference.
Demonstrated consequence is local kernel crash or Oops. Speculative consequences beyond DoS are not supported by the patch. ImportantCandidate is NO because there is no memory corruption, ownership violation, authorization bypass, or unresolved exploitation primitive. AutoDowngradeAllowed is YES because this is a constrained NULL-deref DoS in a hardware-specific runtime PM path.
5. One-sentence report phrase
A NULL pointer dereference in the Qualcomm SNPS femto USB PHY runtime PM path can occur during early probe before PHY state is ready, causing a local device initialization crash with no evidence of memory corruption or privilege escalation.
6. Manual review recommendation
NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED
Reason: this is a constrained hardware-specific NULL dereference with DoS-only impact and no established UAF, refcount corruption, security-boundary bypass, or C/I primitive.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: medium
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: phy: qcom: snps-femto-v2: Fix possible NULL-deref on early runtime suspend [ Upstream
Commit: 0c5c08c94dd64c05679970d4eed8b06d36a889a8
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=0c5c08c94dd64c05679970d4eed8b06d36a889a8
Changed files:
drivers/phy/qualcomm/phy-qcom-snps-femto-v2.c
Diff excerpt:
Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.
Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=0c5c08c94dd64c05679970d4eed8b06d36a889a8
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-90281 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-90281
The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.
The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.
The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.
Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:
Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 4.7
The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.
CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.
A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.
Conservative ActionableScore: 0
Paranoid ActionableScore: 1
The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.
For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:
ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR
ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0
The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.
There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).
KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.
AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: LOW
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): LOW
These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).
Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is [email protected] (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).
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