In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: dma-axi-dmac: use DMA pool to manange DMA descriptor For… (CVE-2026-72474)
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's dmaengine dma-axi-dmac driver was resolved. The issue involved improper management of DMA descriptors, where dma_free_coherent() could be called from a softirq context, causing a kernel BUG(). The fix involves using a DMA pool to allocate and free descriptor blocks, ensuring that dma_free_coherent() is only called outside interrupt context.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The Linux kernel dmaengine dma-axi-dmac driver had a design flaw for architectures like Microblaze and arm64 where DMA_DIRECT_REMAP is set. This caused dma_alloc_coherent() to potentially remap memory, and dma_free_coherent() was called from softirq context during descriptor freeing, leading to a kernel BUG(). The vulnerability was fixed by allocating DMA descriptors from a dma pool and freeing them with dma_pool_free() in interrupt context, deferring the actual dma_free_coherent() call to non-interrupt context when destroying the pool.
Potential Impact
If exploited, this flaw could cause kernel instability or crashes due to BUG() triggered by calling vunmap() from softirq context. This impacts system reliability on affected architectures using the dma-axi-dmac driver.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability has been resolved by changes in the Linux kernel driver to use a DMA pool for descriptor management, preventing calls to dma_free_coherent() in interrupt context. Users should apply the official Linux kernel updates that include this fix. Patch status is not explicitly stated; check the Linux kernel vendor advisory or source repository for the specific fixed versions and apply updates accordingly.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: dma-axi-dmac: use DMA pool to manange DMA descriptor For… (CVE-2026-72474)
Description
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's dmaengine dma-axi-dmac driver was resolved. The issue involved improper management of DMA descriptors, where dma_free_coherent() could be called from a softirq context, causing a kernel BUG(). The fix involves using a DMA pool to allocate and free descriptor blocks, ensuring that dma_free_coherent() is only called outside interrupt context.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The Linux kernel dmaengine dma-axi-dmac driver had a design flaw for architectures like Microblaze and arm64 where DMA_DIRECT_REMAP is set. This caused dma_alloc_coherent() to potentially remap memory, and dma_free_coherent() was called from softirq context during descriptor freeing, leading to a kernel BUG(). The vulnerability was fixed by allocating DMA descriptors from a dma pool and freeing them with dma_pool_free() in interrupt context, deferring the actual dma_free_coherent() call to non-interrupt context when destroying the pool.
Potential Impact
If exploited, this flaw could cause kernel instability or crashes due to BUG() triggered by calling vunmap() from softirq context. This impacts system reliability on affected architectures using the dma-axi-dmac driver.
Mitigation Recommendations
This vulnerability has been resolved by changes in the Linux kernel driver to use a DMA pool for descriptor management, preventing calls to dma_free_coherent() in interrupt context. Users should apply the official Linux kernel updates that include this fix. Patch status is not explicitly stated; check the Linux kernel vendor advisory or source repository for the specific fixed versions and apply updates accordingly.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- GHSA-x3wp-gmcj-4wm5
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.4.0
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-72474"]
- Ecosystems
- []
- Database Specific Severity
- null
- Cvss Version
- null
Threat ID: 6a808b6cbf8831d5394f8511
Added to database: 08/15/2026, 15:53:16 UTC
Last enriched: 08/15/2026, 16:18:18 UTC
Last updated: 08/16/2026, 00:41:15 UTC
Views: 2
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