published September 24, 2026
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
i3c: master: svc: Prevent IRQ storm from false SLVSTART on NPCM845
On NPCM845, when a target on the I3C bus gets stuck holding SDA low,
the controller reports a false Master Request (MR) in-band interrupt
event. The driver handles this by emitting a STOP condition to restore
the bus.
However, the hardware quirk SVC_I3C_QUIRK_FALSE_SLVSTART indicates that
emitting a STOP condition may spuriously set the SLVSTART interrupt
status bit. In the Master Request case, this creates a feedback loop:
the STOP triggers a new SLVSTART event, the IRQ handler fires again,
the controller still reports an MR type, another STOP is emitted, and
the cycle repeats indefinitely, resulting in an IRQ storm that can lock
up the CPU.
Clear the SLVSTART status bit explicitly after emitting the STOP in the
Master Request IBI handler when the SVC_I3C_QUIRK_FALSE_SLVSTART quirk
is set. This breaks the feedback loop without affecting normal SLVSTART
processing, which is already guarded in the top-level IRQ handler by
checking that MSTATUS is in SLVREQ state.