The driver for ARC EMAC in the Linux kernel fails to quiesce interrupt sources before installing the IRQ handler. If prior firmware or the bootloader leaves stale or latched interrupt status bits, the interrupt handler can be invoked against a device that is already being torn down. This race condition can lead to kernel crashes or unstable behavior. The flaw is a classic resource‑management race, corresponding to CWE‑362.

All Linux kernel releases that contain the ARC EMAC driver without the recent patch are affected. Systems running older kernel versions on ARC architecture with Ethernet interfaces are at risk. The vulnerability is tied to the probe and teardown paths in net/ethernet/arc/emac.c.

No CVSS or EPSS score is published, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog, indicating no documented widespread exploitation. The likely attack vector is inferred from the description: a local or firmware‑controlled entity could trigger stale interrupts during driver teardown, potentially causing a kernel panic or facilitating privilege escalation. The exploitation requires the ability to influence the firmware or bootloader, which is typically a local or privileged attacker scenario.