CVE-2026-31486 HIGH

CVE-2026-31486: hwmon: (pmbus/core) Protect regulator operations with mutex

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Published April 22, 2026
Last update June 1, 2026

CVSS base score

7.1/10
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality None
Integrity High

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (pmbus/core) Protect regulator operations with mutex The regulator operations pmbus_regulator_get_voltage(), pmbus_regulator_set_voltage(), and pmbus_regulator_list_voltage() access PMBus registers and shared data but were not protected by the update_lock mutex. This could lead to race conditions. However, adding mutex protection directly to these functions causes a deadlock because pmbus_regulator_notify() (which calls regulator_notifier_call_chain()) is often called with the mutex already held (e.g., from pmbus_fault_handler()). If a regulator callback then calls one of the now-protected voltage functions, it will attempt to acquire the same mutex. Rework pmbus_regulator_notify() to utilize a worker function to send notifications outside of the mutex protection. Events are stored as atomics in a per-page bitmask and processed by the worker. Initialize the worker and its associated data during regulator registration, and ensure it is cancelled on device removal using devm_add_action_or_reset(). While at it, remove the unnecessary include of linux/of.h.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

April 22, 2026 CVE published
June 1, 2026 Record updated