Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-31721

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: f_hid: move list and spinlock inits from bind to alloc There was an issue when you did the following: - setup and bind an hid gadget - open /dev/hidg0 - use the resulting fd in EPOLL_CTL_ADD - unbind the UDC - bind the UDC - use the fd in EPOLL_CTL_DEL When CONFIG_DEBUG_LIST was enabled, a list_del corruption was reported within remove_wait_queue (via ep_remove_wait_queue). After some debugging I found out that the queues, which f_hid registers via poll_wait were the problem. These were initialized using init_waitqueue_head inside hidg_bind. So effectively, the bind function re-initialized the queues while there were still items in them. The solution is to move the initialization from hidg_bind to hidg_alloc to extend their lifetimes to the lifetime of the function instance. Additionally, I found many other possibly problematic init calls in the bind function, which I moved as well.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis

A detailed technical summary for this CVE is being prepared.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 3.19, < 5.10.253>= 5.11, < 5.15.203>= 5.16, < 6.1.169>= 6.2, < 6.6.135>= 6.7, < 6.12.81>= 6.13, < 6.18.22>= 6.19, < 6.19.12= 7.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 / 6.1.169 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2535.15.2036.1.169
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.10.253+, 5.15.203+, 6.1.169+, or 6.6.135+ depending on your current branch

  1. Identify the currently running kernel version using 'uname -r'
  2. Determine which stable kernel branch your current version belongs to (e.g., 5.10.x, 5.15.x, 6.1.x, or 6.6.x)
  3. Upgrade to a fixed kernel version: for 5.10.x branch upgrade to >= 5.10.253, for 5.15.x branch upgrade to >= 5.15.203, for 6.1.x branch upgrade to >= 6.1.169, for 6.6.x branch upgrade to >= 6.6.135
  4. Use your distribution's package manager to install the updated kernel (e.g., 'apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>' for Debian/Ubuntu, or 'yum update kernel' for RHEL/CentOS)
  5. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  6. Verify the new kernel version is running with 'uname -r'
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require driver recompilation and could introduce compatibility changes with external modules; ensure critical hardware drivers are available in the new kernel

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-31721 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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