firmware_loader: Fix recursive lock in device_cache_fw_images()

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: firmware_loader: Fix recursive lock in device_cache_fw_images() A recursive locking deadlock can occur in the firmware loader's power management notification handler. During system suspend or hibernation preparation, fw_pm_notify() calls device_cache_fw_images(). This function acquires fw_lock to set the firmware cache state to FW_LOADER_START_CACHE and then iterates over all devices using dpm_for_each_dev() while still holding the lock. For each device, dev_cache_fw_image() schedules asynchronous work to cache the firmware. If memory allocation for the async work entry fails (e.g., in out-of-memory conditions), async_schedule_node_domain() falls back to executing the work function synchronously in the current thread. The synchronous execution path (__async_dev_cache_fw_image() -> cache_firmware() -> request_firmware() -> assign_fw()) attempts to acquire fw_lock again. Since the current thread already holds fw_lock, this results in a recursive locking deadlock. Fix this by releasing fw_lock immediately after updating the cache state and before calling dpm_for_each_dev(). The lock is only needed to protect the state update. Concurrent firmware requests will correctly see the FW_LOADER_START_CACHE state and use the piggyback mechanism, which is independently protected by its own fwc->name_lock.

Timeline

Scores

No CVSS score yet: neither the CNA, CISA nor NVD has scored this CVE. NVD status: Received.

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.24% · top 85% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Not scored.

Affected products

• Linux · Linux

  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < 806cb8fabfde7f830da5ae87777d52fdf50c4774
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < 7865a1bfd20d10c03b083a5fc392d907ca5099b3
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < 490b0385e4cfac691f7b18dde821c13e77b4770b
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < 38149b57427c736c08d9aa4c7b87deacd53e9e63
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < a5b2a68a391b05d54552f13548a72a46c65006f7
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < f25d6e4ec4c257030592bd671f113cf9584c52f0
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < c0f2dedd41fe14dbe076c1672214802fb42cd8c8
  • affected ac39b3ea73aacde876d1d5ee1ca3e2719f771482 – < d3ec78f8f8d48a04a9fac38d47275c34645e5103

• Linux · Linux

  • affected 3.7
  • unaffected < 3.7
  • unaffected 5.10.261 – ≤ 5.10.*
  • unaffected 5.15.212 – ≤ 5.15.*
  • unaffected 6.1.178 – ≤ 6.1.*
  • unaffected 6.6.145 – ≤ 6.6.*
  • unaffected 6.12.97 – ≤ 6.12.*
  • unaffected 6.18.40 – ≤ 6.18.*
  • unaffected 7.1.5 – ≤ 7.1.*
  • unaffected 7.2 – ≤ *

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• EUVD EUVD-2026-59478 (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2026-74331](https://cveledger.app/badge/CVE-2026-74331.svg)](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-74331)

Record last updated 6 Nov 2026, 17:05 UTC.