[CVE-2026-93162][MODERATE 7.0] crypto: qat - cancel work on re-enable SR-IOV timeout [ Upstream

[AL-KERNEL <alkernel@kernelcve.org>]

CVE: CVE-2026-93162
Priority: MODERATE 7.0
AL-KERNEL base severity: MODERATE
KPANIC flag: YES
Patch: crypto: qat - cancel work on re-enable SR-IOV timeout [ Upstream
Commit: cbeef7ba0de4a7b84a772eee1784948473e7a7e6
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=cbeef7ba0de4a7b84a772eee1784948473e7a7e6
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-93162
Analysis date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 19:52:17 -0400
ActionableScore: 5
ActionableScore lower bound: 4
Actionable bucket: Actionable Moderate / Strong Important candidate requiring manual review
Manual review required: YES

Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.

======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-93162 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-93162

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: MODERATE 7.0
Manual review required: YES

A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.

======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================

CVE-2026-93162	MODERATE	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-93162 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:H/I:H/A:H';*CWE-416;CWE-562;CWE-362;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';BEST CVSS score: '7';DESCR 'A use-after-return risk exists in the Intel QAT reset path because a SR-IOV reenable work item uses work_struct and completion data embedded in an on-stack adf_sriov_dev_data object. If the completion wait times out, the reset worker can return while device_sriov_wq still holds or executes the stack backed work item, leaving the queued work with a pointer into an invalid stack frame. This can lead to kernel memory corruption or a kernel crash during QAT PF reset or SR-IOV recovery. For the CVSS the PR:L is used for the paranoid score because some deployments may delegate accelerator access or reset influence to local service accounts, containers, or VF workloads rather than only full host administrators. The issue is not directly network reachable. Impact is at least local denial of service via kernel crash, and in the worst case may allow confidentiality or integrity impact due to stack use-after-return memory corruption.';YES REQUIRES MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Actionable Moderate / Strong Important candidate requiring manual review (with actual score 5)	YES	SIMPLEFIX HARDWARE  KPANIC INCREASED_TO_MODERATE7_FROM_LOW_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS_AND_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHER4	YES	NO	checked

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ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=5
ActionableScoreLower=4
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_B
RealUAF=YES
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=NO
ImportantCandidate=YES
ManualReview=REQUIRED
AutoDowngradeAllowed=NO

1. ActionableScore

* Raw conservative score: 4
* Conservative score: 4
* Raw paranoid score: 5
* Paranoid score: 5
* Final recommended bucket: **Actionable Moderate / Strong Important candidate requiring manual review**::

No floor or cap changed the conservative score. No floor or cap changed the paranoid score.

2. Signal breakdown

Conservative signals:

* +2 Real UAF / lifetime violation. The reset worker queues work whose `work_struct` and `completion` are embedded in an on-stack `adf_sriov_dev_data`.
* +1 Reliable kernel crash / strong DoS. If timeout occurs, the stack frame can unwind while the workqueue still holds or executes the stack-backed work item.
* +1 Active asynchronous lifetime misuse. The stale object is not merely passive metadata. It is an active queued work item whose storage becomes invalid after function return.

Paranoid additional signal:

* +1 Unresolved stack use-after-return corruption leverage. The queued work may execute after the stack storage has been reused, so later workqueue or callback processing may consume or mutate invalid stack-backed state. This is still CLASS_B, not CLASS_A, because controlled reclaim, arbitrary write, callback hijack, or LPE is not demonstrated.

Non-awarded signals:

* Controlled reclaim not demonstrated.
* Arbitrary kernel read/write not demonstrated.
* Confidentiality and integrity impact not awarded as independent ActionableScore signals.
* Remote reachability not established.
* Namespace-scoped privilege not established.
* Concrete repeated release/refcount signal not awarded. This patch does not show first put/free followed by a second put/free on the same dangling reference.
* Extra Availability point not awarded because the same crash/DoS is already counted.
* Hardware rarity penalty not applied. QAT hardware and SR-IOV are prerequisites, but the evidence is not enough to classify this as rare physical-only exposure for scoring.
* Host-admin penalty not applied because host-admin-equivalent trigger is plausible but not positively established from supplied evidence.

3. Reachability analysis

The vulnerable path is in the Intel QAT PF reset / SR-IOV re-enable flow. A realistic trigger requires a QAT device with SR-IOV support and a reset or recovery path where SR-IOV re-enable work times out.

The complete attacker privilege boundary is unresolved. Host administrator control over PF reset or SR-IOV configuration is a plausible trigger model, but the supplied evidence does not positively prove that only a host administrator can reach the vulnerable timeout path. It also does not prove that an ordinary local user, container, VF workload, or namespace-scoped actor can reliably trigger it.

No direct network trigger is established. No namespace-scoped capability chain is established. Prior device setup and QAT/SR-IOV availability are environmental prerequisites. The timeout is an ordered asynchronous failure condition rather than a classic attacker-driven race, so no hard-race penalty is applied.

4. Primitive and severity interpretation

The exact primitive is a stack use-after-return / lifetime violation involving a queued `work_struct` and `completion` embedded in a stack object. If `wait_for_completion_timeout()` expires, the reset worker can return while `device_sriov_wq` still retains or runs the work item.

This is an active asynchronous object lifetime bug, not a simple NULL dereference and not a pure resource leak. It is also not a concrete repeated release/refcount bug, because no second lifetime-decrement operation on the same dangling reference is shown.

PrimitiveClass is CLASS_B. Demonstrated consequence is kernel crash or memory corruption risk from use of invalid stack-backed work item storage. Speculative consequence is possible stronger exploitation if reused stack contents can be meaningfully shaped, but the supplied patch does not establish controlled stack reuse, arbitrary R/W, callback control, or privilege escalation.

ImportantCandidate is YES because an active workqueue use-after-return in kernel code leaves meaningful exploitation leverage unresolved. AutoDowngradeAllowed is NO because automatically treating this as ordinary crash-only cleanup would discard a concrete lifetime-corruption primitive involving active queued work.

Likely operational severity is Actionable Moderate, with Strong Important review warranted if additional evidence shows non-admin reachability or controllable post-return stack reuse.

5. One-sentence report phrase

A stack use-after-return in the Intel QAT SR-IOV reset path can leave a queued work item pointing to an expired stack frame after a timeout, potentially causing kernel crash or memory corruption during device recovery.

6. Manual review recommendation

MANUAL CHECK REQUIRED

Reason: the patch fixes a real active-object lifetime violation with stack-backed queued work, and the complete trigger privilege plus post-lifetime exploitation leverage are not fully resolved.

7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: medium

======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: crypto: qat - cancel work on re-enable SR-IOV timeout [ Upstream
Commit: cbeef7ba0de4a7b84a772eee1784948473e7a7e6
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=cbeef7ba0de4a7b84a772eee1784948473e7a7e6

Changed files:
  drivers/crypto/intel/qat/qat_common/adf_aer.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=cbeef7ba0de4a7b84a772eee1784948473e7a7e6

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-93162 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-93162

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:H/I:H/A:H
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 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: 4
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 5

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: MODERATE
KPANIC detected for this report: YES
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): MODERATE 7.0

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 alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).