CVE-2026-90224 — Kernel
HIGHCVE-2026-90224 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in Kernel. A fix is available for Kernel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
nfc: nci: fix double completion race in nci_data_exchange_complete
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-90224 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 374,847 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
KernelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Linux packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
nfc: nci: fix double completion race in nci_data_exchange_complete
nci_close_device() and nci_rx_work can both call nci_data_exchange_complete() concurrently. After commit 4527025d440ce8 ("nfc: nci: fix circular locking dependency in nci_close_device") moved flush_workqueue(ndev->rx_wq) after mutex_unlock(&ndev->req_lock), rx_work is no longer serialized with the explicit completion call in the close path. Both callers read the non-NULL callback pointer and invoke rawsock_data_exchange_complete(), which calls sock_put() -- but only one sock_hold() was taken, so the second sock_put() underflows the refcount and frees the socket while it is still in use.
Replace the bare clear_bit(NCI_DATA_EXCHANGE) with test_and_clear_bit() so that only the first caller proceeds to invoke the callback.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐧Linux | Kernel | ≥ 5.11.0&&< 5.10.270 | 5.10.270 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Kernel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Kernel to 5.10.270 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-90224 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-90224 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-90224. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-90224 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-90224 across Linux dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.