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Linux Kernel: NFC Device Not Removed from Rfkill List

CVE-2026-23167
Summary

A bug in the Linux kernel's NFC (Near Field Communication) device handling has been fixed. This issue could have allowed an NFC device to remain visible in the system's rfkill list even after it was closed, potentially leading to unexpected behavior. Updates to the Linux kernel have resolved this issue.

Original title
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nfc: nci: Fix race between rfkill and nci_unregister_device(). syzbot reported the splat below [0] without a repro. It indicat...
Original description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfc: nci: Fix race between rfkill and nci_unregister_device().

syzbot reported the splat below [0] without a repro.

It indicates that struct nci_dev.cmd_wq had been destroyed before
nci_close_device() was called via rfkill.

nci_dev.cmd_wq is only destroyed in nci_unregister_device(), which
(I think) was called from virtual_ncidev_close() when syzbot close()d
an fd of virtual_ncidev.

The problem is that nci_unregister_device() destroys nci_dev.cmd_wq
first and then calls nfc_unregister_device(), which removes the
device from rfkill by rfkill_unregister().

So, the device is still visible via rfkill even after nci_dev.cmd_wq
is destroyed.

Let's unregister the device from rfkill first in nci_unregister_device().

Note that we cannot call nfc_unregister_device() before
nci_close_device() because

1) nfc_unregister_device() calls device_del() which frees
all memory allocated by devm_kzalloc() and linked to
ndev->conn_info_list

2) nci_rx_work() could try to queue nci_conn_info to
ndev->conn_info_list which could be leaked

Thus, nfc_unregister_device() is split into two functions so we
can remove rfkill interfaces only before nci_close_device().

[0]:
DEBUG_LOCKS_WARN_ON(1)
WARNING: kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 at hlock_class kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 [inline], CPU#0: syz.0.8675/6349
WARNING: kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 at check_wait_context kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4854 [inline], CPU#0: syz.0.8675/6349
WARNING: kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 at __lock_acquire+0x39d/0x2cf0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5187, CPU#0: syz.0.8675/6349
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6349 Comm: syz.0.8675 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/13/2026
RIP: 0010:hlock_class kernel/locking/lockdep.c:238 [inline]
RIP: 0010:check_wait_context kernel/locking/lockdep.c:4854 [inline]
RIP: 0010:__lock_acquire+0x3a4/0x2cf0 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5187
Code: 18 00 4c 8b 74 24 08 75 27 90 e8 17 f2 fc 02 85 c0 74 1c 83 3d 50 e0 4e 0e 00 75 13 48 8d 3d 43 f7 51 0e 48 c7 c6 8b 3a de 8d <67> 48 0f b9 3a 90 31 c0 0f b6 98 c4 00 00 00 41 8b 45 20 25 ff 1f
RSP: 0018:ffffc9000c767680 EFLAGS: 00010046
RAX: 0000000000000001 RBX: 0000000000040000 RCX: 0000000000080000
RDX: ffffc90013080000 RSI: ffffffff8dde3a8b RDI: ffffffff8ff24ca0
RBP: 0000000000000003 R08: ffffffff8fef35a3 R09: 1ffffffff1fde6b4
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff1fde6b5 R12: 00000000000012a2
R13: ffff888030338ba8 R14: ffff888030338000 R15: ffff888030338b30
FS: 00007fa5995f66c0(0000) GS:ffff8881256f8000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00007f7e72f842d0 CR3: 00000000485a0000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
Call Trace:
<TASK>
lock_acquire+0x106/0x330 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:5868
touch_wq_lockdep_map+0xcb/0x180 kernel/workqueue.c:3940
__flush_workqueue+0x14b/0x14f0 kernel/workqueue.c:3982
nci_close_device+0x302/0x630 net/nfc/nci/core.c:567
nci_dev_down+0x3b/0x50 net/nfc/nci/core.c:639
nfc_dev_down+0x152/0x290 net/nfc/core.c:161
nfc_rfkill_set_block+0x2d/0x100 net/nfc/core.c:179
rfkill_set_block+0x1d2/0x440 net/rfkill/core.c:346
rfkill_fop_write+0x461/0x5a0 net/rfkill/core.c:1301
vfs_write+0x29a/0xb90 fs/read_write.c:684
ksys_write+0x150/0x270 fs/read_write.c:738
do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
do_syscall_64+0xe2/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7fa59b39acb9
Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48
RSP: 002b:00007fa5995f6028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000001
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007fa59b615fa0 RCX: 00007fa59b39acb9
RDX: 0000000000000008 RSI: 0000200000000080 RDI: 0000000000000007
RBP: 00007fa59b408bf7 R08:
---truncated---
Published: 14 Feb 2026 · Updated: 10 Mar 2026 · First seen: 6 Mar 2026