---
id: CVE-2026-98693
title: 'thunderbolt: Hold a router reference for each allocated HopID'
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  thunderbolt: Hold a router reference for each allocated HopID

  tb_stop() drops the reference to all DP tunnels but does not deactivate
  them, thus nothing cancels a dprx…
severity: none
vendor: Linux
product: Linux
affected:
  - >-
    Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 <
    c444d2c17dc236680324fd989232199680a6c419
  - >-
    Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 <
    2b5f976119d8f099a03cbf700df3d9c8690fe33d
  - >-
    Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 <
    032c59c7681c661b63123231824170c025afb7e7
  - Linux 6.14
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-19'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-19T09:24:03.100Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98693'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c444d2c17dc236680324fd989232199680a6c419'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b5f976119d8f099a03cbf700df3d9c8690fe33d'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/032c59c7681c661b63123231824170c025afb7e7'
tags:
  - cve.org
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T16:47:32.517Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

thunderbolt: Hold a router reference for each allocated HopID

tb_stop() drops the reference to all DP tunnels but does not deactivate
them, thus nothing cancels a dprx_work still in flight (which holds its
own tunnel reference) and the tunnel can outlive tb_switch_remove(). The
HopID releases in tb_path_free() then operate on freed IDAs and trigger
warnings like

  ida_free called for id=8 which is not allocated.

This can be triggered by unbinding the driver while a DP tunnel is still
waiting for the DPRX capabilities read to finish. On the Apple NHI
unplugging the cable runs into just that reliably because the read can
never finish right now and because the unplug powers down the entire
USB4 complex and removes the NHI device.

Take a router reference whenever an input or output HopID is allocated
and drop it again after the HopID is released. This keeps the ports and
their HopID IDAs alive for as long as they are used.

The KUnit tests allocate routers without ever registering their devices
so initialize the embedded struct device there as well and drop its
initial reference when the test is finished.

## Affected

- `Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 < c444d2c17dc236680324fd989232199680a6c419`
- `Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 < 2b5f976119d8f099a03cbf700df3d9c8690fe33d`
- `Linux >= d6d458d42e1e1544a18f37f1d5c840e00d5261b9 < 032c59c7681c661b63123231824170c025afb7e7`
- `Linux 6.14`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.