CVE-2026-97969 json
watchdog: msc313e: Fix clock leak and spurious timer in settimeout()
published last mo. modified 23d ago also EUVD-2026-86823
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
watchdog: msc313e: Fix clock leak and spurious timer in settimeout()
msc313e_wdt_settimeout() unconditionally calls msc313e_wdt_start() which introduces two severe bugs:
1. If the watchdog is already active, calling start() again will increase the reference count of the clock again. However stop() is only called once, the reference count is unbalance. 2. If the watchdog is stopped, calling settimeout() will start the hardware timer accidentally.
Factor out the register-writing logic into a helper function. Only call it in settimeout() if the watchdog is running. Otherwise, simply update `wdev->timeout`.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7, 7.3
- linux Debian 12 6.1.190-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.111-1
- linux Debian 14 7.2.7-1
- linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.111-1~deb12u1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97969
- linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-202.212
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-149.149
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42
- linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1119.126
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1069.74
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.17
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1120.130
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1073.81
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97969
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1.159998.21.42
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:24550-1SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1
- kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 7.2.9-1.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:12074-1
- kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.158.1-1
azure linux advisories AZL-104220
Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/68665016c7b777b44e27b6b0c1e6524c28ebe40a commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/77ef2aa8b46876ca9935f32dd874c517ccf5d880 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a1dd0817776ea2a870ba2347001af13ddd4cb321 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2152a13ee2a9af09a668ebd053a8dbf771dadb80 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2abf99a57b0b71b2b97745981f4039370ab78044 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/faf1eb2895c87a8c0fb920439dddc7e0d97c6a69 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/3db30f315935c2fb0d95f46b7a593b5b4d3ec3d0 commit
Is CVE-2026-97969 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.
Check with FencerVendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-97969 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: watchdog: msc313e: Fix clock leak and spurious timer in settimeout()
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-8, openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9not affected: vulnerable code not present
+1 more productsfewer
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/68665016c7b777b44e27b6b0c1e6524c28ebe40a
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/77ef2aa8b46876ca9935f32dd874c517ccf5d880
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/a1dd0817776ea2a870ba2347001af13ddd4cb321
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/2152a13ee2a9af09a668ebd053a8dbf771dadb80
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/2abf99a57b0b71b2b97745981f4039370ab78044
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/faf1eb2895c87a8c0fb920439dddc7e0d97c6a69
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/3db30f315935c2fb0d95f46b7a593b5b4d3ec3d0
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-97969
- NVD CVE-2026-97969
Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.