CVE-2026-23116: 
Linux Kernel vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2026-23116 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel's pmdomain: imx8m-blk-ctrl driver affecting i.MX8MQ platforms. The flaw stems from incorrect handling of reset and clock enable masks for the VPU (Video Processing Unit) in the VPUMIX power domain, where the ADB lacks separate reset/clock bits and must be reset together with the VPUs. Attempting to reset G1 or G2 VPU blocks independently can cause a system hang. Affected kernel versions span 5.18 through 6.19-rc6, with fixed versions available across multiple stable branches. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.5 (Medium) (Feedly).

The root cause is improper resource management (CWE-400 / improper handling of hardware reset sequencing) in the imx8mq_vpu_blk_ctl_domain_data structure within the pmdomain/imx8m-blk-ctrl driver. On i.MX8MQ, the ADB in the VPUMIX domain has no independent reset or clock enable bits — it is ungated and reset in conjunction with the VPUs. The driver incorrectly defined separate rst_mask and clk_mask values for the i.MX8MQ VPU block control domains, allowing code paths that attempt to reset G1 or G2 independently, which triggers a system hang. The fix removes the erroneous rst_mask and clk_mask entries and delegates VPU reset responsibility entirely to imx8mq_vpu_power_notifier(). Exploitation requires local access with low privileges (Feedly, Kernel Patch).

Successful exploitation results in a system hang (denial of service), causing complete loss of availability for the affected i.MX8MQ-based system. There is no confidentiality or integrity impact — the vulnerability is limited to availability. The scope is confined to the local system running an affected Linux kernel version on i.MX8MQ hardware, with no known potential for lateral movement or data exfiltration (Feedly).

Update to one of the following patched Linux kernel stable versions based on your branch:

• 6.1.162 or later (for kernels in the 5.18–6.1 range)
• 6.6.122 or later (for kernels in the 6.2–6.6 range)
• 6.12.68 or later (for kernels in the 6.7–6.12 range)
• 6.18.8 or later (for kernels in the 6.13–6.18 range)

As a compensating control, limit local user access on i.MX8MQ-based systems until patches are applied. No configuration-based workaround is available that fully mitigates the issue without patching (Feedly, Kernel Patch).