Medium severity · published May 27, 2026
CVE-2026-46021
thermal: core: Fix thermal zone governor cleanup issues
5.5
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
thermal: core: Fix thermal zone governor cleanup issues
If thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() fails after adding
a thermal governor to the thermal zone being registered, the
governor is not removed from it as appropriate which may lead to
a memory leak.
In turn, thermal_zone_device_unregister() calls thermal_set_governor()
without acquiring the thermal zone lock beforehand which may race with
a governor update via sysfs and may lead to a use-after-free in that
case.
Address these issues by adding two thermal_set_governor() calls, one to
thermal_release() to remove the governor from the given thermal zone,
and one to the thermal zone registration error path to cover failures
preceding the thermal zone device registration.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 4% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
4.2 before 6.6.140; 6.7 before 6.12.86; 6.13 before 6.18.27; 6.19 before 7.0.4 · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before a172fa18bc370b776ac1510abb0dcb50a7a35fac; e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before 8e563d8db50f303171aceb79eec0807e7ba06951; e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before d4eb861adde5ce22e459fbd29366f47bb2167977; e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before 37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13; e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45; e33df1d2f3a0141cd79e770f31999ba0dd7ebfa8 before 75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761; +3 more · source: vendor
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 TM MFP - GNU/Linux subsystem · Siemens
0 · source: CISA
SS
SIPLUS S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46021
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46021
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e563d8db50f303171aceb79eec0807e7ba06951
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a172fa18bc370b776ac1510abb0dcb50a7a35fac
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