CVE-2026-98197 (CVSS 7)

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (w83791d) remove fan/pwm 4-5 sysfs group on remove When the fan/pwm 4-5 pins are not used as GPIO, w83791d_probe() creates the w83791d_group_fanpwm45 sysfs group on the I2C client device. The probe error path removes this group when a later initialization step fails, but the normal remove path only removes w83791d_group. As a result, the optional fan/pwm 4-5 sysfs files can remain after the driver is unbound. The callbacks associated with these files access the driver data, which is devm allocated and released after driver unbind. Leaving the sysfs files behind can therefore result in accesses to stale driver data. Remove w83791d_group_fanpwm45 during normal teardown as well. This issue was found by manual code inspection.

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CVSS v3.1 Score

7.0

HIGH

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

EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0012

Probability of exploitation

0.02%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

References

Other References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/081e3a78453635fb370b1712809d2af29e60b4c5 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0ff9c7775e51ac6d47b1bb5c46f06b1434fe58a8 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2c381e6e0f033f2df13bd64905e7232c42f49009 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ccf6c512290a288a2d4d7f076430dfb0c6ee476 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2dd37d00f1f1af8e02ffa70ee573c10fd1a76864 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/583e04e88e75b8d57304015d83c38e82a9531600 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b1d419eb3bc41245c3d3d99dfe1a7b6c45989586 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f6e2ab72f32d16d71a2549c7ea062dd209f71670

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-98197? +

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: hwmon: (w83791d) remove fan/pwm 4-5 sysfs group on remove When the fan/pwm 4-5 pins are not used as GPIO, w83791d_probe() creates the w83791d_group_fanpwm45 sysfs group on the I2C client device. The probe error path removes this group when a later initialization step fails, but the normal remove path only removes w83791d_group. As a result, the optional fan/pwm 4-5 sysfs files can remain after the driver is unbound. The callbacks associated with these files access the driver data, which is devm allocated and released after driver unbind. Leaving the sysfs files behind can therefore result in accesses to stale driver data. Remove w83791d_group_fanpwm45 during normal teardown as well. This issue was found by manual code inspection. It has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.0 (HIGH).

How severe is CVE-2026-98197? +

CVE-2026-98197 has a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.0 out of 10, rated HIGH. This is a high-severity vulnerability that should be prioritized for patching. The EPSS score is 0.0012, placing it in the 0th percentile for exploitation probability.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-98197? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.

CVE-2026-98197