CVE-2026-99039
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AI Threat Summary
CVE-2026-99039 is a moderate vulnerability affecting the target software. Threat hunters should monitor for exploit attempts and apply vendor patches immediately.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: memstick: core: wait for request completion before freeing card In memstick_alloc_card() and memstick_set_rw_addr(), wait_for_completion_timeout() is used to wait for device identification and address configuration requests to complete. The memstick subsystem does not provide an abort or cancellation callback in struct memstick_host for in-flight requests. If wait_for_completion_timeout() expires (for instance, when a USB transfer or command retry is delayed), memstick_alloc_card() returns an error and frees the memstick_dev structure via kfree(card). However, the host controller driver (such as rtsx_usb_ms) is still running the request asynchronously in worker context. When the transfer eventually finishes, the driver writes into host->req->data, which points to memory inside the already freed card structure. This leads to a KASAN slab-use-after-free write: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ms_read_bytes+0x8fe/0x990 Write of size 1 at addr ffff88813c188079 by task kworker/1:5/5239 Workqueue: events rtsx_usb_ms_handle_req Call Trace: ms_read_bytes+0x8fe/0x990 drivers/memstick/host/rtsx_usb_ms.c:450 rtsx_usb_ms_issue_cmd drivers/memstick/host/rtsx_usb_ms.c:477 [inline] rtsx_usb_ms_handle_req+0x557/0x1a00 drivers/memstick/host/rtsx_usb_ms.c:531 process_one_work+0xac7/0x1b10 kernel/workqueue.c:3396 worker_thread+0x5ef/0xe50 kernel/workqueue.c:3560 kthread+0x373/0x450 kernel/kthread.c:436 Allocated by task 1662: memstick_alloc_card drivers/memstick/core/memstick.c:383 [inline] memstick_check+0x2c1/0x10d0 drivers/memstick/core/memstick.c:452 process_one_work+0xac7/0x1b10 kernel/workqueue.c:3396 Freed by task 1662: kfree+0x20c/0x650 mm/slub.c:6792 memstick_alloc_card drivers/memstick/core/memstick.c:420 [inline] memstick_check+0x72b/0x10d0 drivers/memstick/core/memstick.c:452 process_one_work+0xac7/0x1b10 kernel/workqueue.c:3396 Host controller drivers (rtsx_usb_ms, jmb38x_ms, tifm_ms, r592) already implement their own hardware and bus timeouts, and callers in mspro_block and ms_block already rely on wait_for_completion() unconditionally. Replace wait_for_completion_timeout() with wait_for_completion() in memstick_set_rw_addr() and memstick_alloc_card() so that the card structure is never freed while an asynchronous request is in flight.
Attack Chain
Attacker scans for vulnerable versions using version banners or PoC scanners
Attacker triggers CVE-2026-99039 vulnerability with a crafted request or payload
Vulnerability exploited to perform unauthorized actions on the target system
Depending on vulnerability type, attacker achieves data access, service disruption, or code execution
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
Indicators of Compromise
| Type | Value | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| user_agent | Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; exploit/1.0) |
Generic exploit scanner user agent pattern | |
| url | /api/vuln-endpoint?payload=<malicious> |
Exploit attempt against application endpoint — monitor access logs for anomalous params |
Remediation
Quick Facts
| CVE ID | CVE-2026-99039 |
| CVSS Score | N/A |
| Published | 2026-10-23 |
| Exploited | No |
| CISA KEV | No |
| PoC | Not public |
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3af81770e2011c6ac7bb597a4af2…
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/810580cf60edc75c9891c2de3225…
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa0a37b5024d921e96ac4f8f487c…
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c3ab92542475d59ae685cbb294e7…
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f2795c50144d528dabc2cf2fd53c…