CVE-2026-53234

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:<br /> <br /> net: ibm: emac: Fix use-after-free during device removal<br /> <br /> The driver was using devm_register_netdev() which causes unregister_netdev()<br /> to be deferred until the devres cleanup phase, which runs after emac_remove()<br /> returns. This creates a use-after-free window where:<br /> <br /> 1. emac_remove() is called, which tears down hardware (cancels work, detaches<br /> modules, unregisters from MAL)<br /> 2. emac_remove() returns<br /> 3. devres cleanup runs and finally calls unregister_netdev()<br /> <br /> During step 3, the network stack might still process packets, triggering<br /> emac_irq(), emac_poll(), or other handlers that access now-freed hardware<br /> resources (dev-&gt;emacp, dev-&gt;mal, etc.).<br /> <br /> Fix this by replacing devm_register_netdev() with manual register_netdev()<br /> and calling unregister_netdev() at the beginning of emac_remove(), before<br /> any hardware teardown. This ensures the network device is fully stopped and<br /> unregistered before hardware resources are released.<br /> <br /> The change is safe because:<br /> - dev-&gt;ndev is assigned very early in probe (before any error paths that<br /> could bypass emac_remove)<br /> - platform_set_drvdata() is only called after successful registration, so<br /> emac_remove() only runs for fully registered devices<br /> - unregister_netdev() is idempotent and safe to call on any registered device