MediumCVE-2026-46021

    Linux Kernel: Use-After-Free (CVE-2026-46021)

    Published Last modified Sources: Siemens ProductCERT, Debian LTS, SUSE, Ubuntu, BSI, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal: core: Fix thermal zone governor cleanup issues If thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() fails after adding a thermal governor to the thermal zone being registered, the governor is not removed from it as appropriate which may lead to a memory leak. In turn, thermal_zone_device_unregister() calls thermal_set_governor() without acquiring the thermal zone lock beforehand which may race with a governor update via sysfs and may lead to a use-after-free in that case.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.10.259, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.210, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.176.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 4.2..5.10.259
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.11..5.15.210
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.16..6.1.176
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.2..6.6.140
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.86
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.27
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.0.4
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.259
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.210
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.176
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.140
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.86
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.27
    • Linux Kernel 7.0.4
    • Linux Kernel 7.1

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    5.5

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    5.5

    CVSS v3

    Severity Medium on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Siemens ProductCERT, Debian LTS, SUSE, Ubuntu, BSI, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide, EUVD

    0.1 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 3.5

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Medium
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    45.48 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    5.5 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    5.5
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.1 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    3.5
    Low — this CVE sits in the lower 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal: core: Fix thermal zone governor cleanup issues If thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() fails after adding a thermal governor to the thermal zone being registered, the governor is not removed from it as appropriate which may lead to a memory leak. In turn, thermal_zone_device_unregister() calls thermal_set_governor() without acquiring the thermal zone lock beforehand which may race with a governor update via sysfs and may lead to a use-after-free in that case. Address these issues by adding two thermal_set_governor() calls, one to thermal_release() to remove the governor from the given thermal zone, and one to the thermal zone registration error path to cover failures preceding the thermal zone device registration.

    Source: siemens_advisory, Debian LTS Advisories, suse_csaf, Ubuntu Security Notices, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, cvelistv5, Microsoft Security Update Guide, NVD (NIST), ENISA EUVD, CVE.org (MITRE)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 6.19 – < 7.0.4
    • 4.2 – < 5.10.259
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.140
    • 5.11 – < 5.15.210
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.27
    • —
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.176
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.86
    • 7.0.4
    • 5.10.259
    • 6.6.140
    • 5.15.210
    • 6.18.27
    • 7.1
    • 6.1.176
    • 6.12.86
    SiemensSIMATIC S7
    • 1500 TM MFP V1.1.1 GNU/Linux subsystem
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinuxbookworm
    Linuxdebianlinuxbullseye
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.1bullseye
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcp-5.15focal
    Linuxlinuxlinux_kernel—

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 3 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/46xxx/CVE-2026-46021.json">CVE-2026-46021</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-457936.html
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-784472.html

      Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

    2. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 21 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e563d8db50f303171aceb79eec0807e7ba06951
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a172fa18bc370b776ac1510abb0dcb50a7a35fac
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d4eb861adde5ce22e459fbd29366f47bb2167977
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e563d8db50f303171aceb79eec0807e7ba06951
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a172fa18bc370b776ac1510abb0dcb50a7a35fac
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d4eb861adde5ce22e459fbd29366f47bb2167977
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45 Types: Patch
      —

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    3. Record modifiedSiemens ADP

      Show 2 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Affected versions (publisher)added
      —
      New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/46xxx/CVE-2026-46021.json">CVE-2026-46021</a>
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-019113.html

      Source identifier: 0b142b55-0307-4c5a-b3c9-f314f3fb7c5e

    4. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 4 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e563d8db50f303171aceb79eec0807e7ba06951
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a172fa18bc370b776ac1510abb0dcb50a7a35fac
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d4eb861adde5ce22e459fbd29366f47bb2167977
      Affected versions (publisher)changed
      Linux, Linux
      Linux, Linux

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    5. Initial analysis by NVDNVD

      Newly listed as affected:
      • Linux Kernel (6.7 – before 6.12.86; 4.2 – before 6.6.140; 6.13 – before 6.18.27; 6.19 – before 7.0.4)

      CVSS V3.1: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

      Weakness type: CWE-401

      Show 8 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      CVSSadded
      —
      AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-401
      Product configurationadded
      —
      OR *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.7 up to (excluding) 6.12.86 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 4.2 up to (excluding) 6.6.140 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.13 up to (excluding) 6.18.27 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.19 up to (excluding) 7.0.4
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45 Types: Patch

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

    Embed badge

    Show the severity and KEV status of this vulnerability on your site – with a link back here. The image is updated hourly.

    Badge preview for CVE-2026-46021
    <a href="https://intel.neosec.eu/en/cve/CVE-2026-46021"><img src="https://intel.neosec.eu/badge/cve/CVE-2026-46021.svg?lang=en" alt="CVE-2026-46021 – NEOSEC Intel" height="20"></a>