CVE-2026-68357

high

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: watchdog: pretimeout: Fix UAF in watchdog_unregister_governor() When a watchdog governor is unregistered, it updates existing watchdog devices that were using this governor by falling back to `default_gov`. If the governor being unregistered is currently set as `default_gov`, the `default_gov` is never cleared. This leads to 2 use-after-free issues: 1. New watchdog devices registered after this point will inherit the dangling `default_gov`. 2. Existing watchdog devices using the unregistered governor will have their `wdd->gov` reassigned to the dangling `default_gov`. Fix the UAF by clearing `default_gov` if it matches the governor being unregistered.

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d1658b066de30f4b23afc14814d22416a971e6e

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7993d626983cc58fbde9607333cfd2d57725c197

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7362ba0f9c96ac3ad6a2ca3995bd9fc9a28a8661

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e47b91b9b4020fcc01def14d6b6556d66074cf4

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ca252720f0e38411cfec3431db9bb1aed0a412c

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2026-08-10

Updated: 2026-08-10

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 8.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:C

Severity: High

CVSS v3

Base Score: 7.1

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

Severity: High