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CVE-2026-72452
drm/i915: clear CRTC color blob pointers after dropping refs
Published 2026-08-15 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/gpu. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-72452 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | not affected | 6.1.190-1 | Nothing to do. bookworm never shipped the vulnerable code. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.100-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.100-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
intel_crtc_put_color_blobs() drops the CRTC color blob references, but leaves the corresponding pointers unchanged. This can matter in intel_crtc_prepare_cleared_state(), which frees the old CRTC hw state before calling intel_dp_tunnel_atomic_clear_stream_bw(). The latter can fail while looking up the DP tunnel group state, for example with -EDEADLK. If that happens, the function returns without completing the cleared state preparation. The failed atomic state will then be cleared by the atomic core and intel_crtc_free_hw_state() can be called again for the same state, dropping the same blob references again. Clear the blob pointers after dropping the references so repeated cleanup of the same CRTC hw state is safe. (cherry picked from commit d5005addb5f68e8a0edce249506757bdc9e3d8c8)
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/intel_atomic.c
- What this is
- INTEL DRM DISPLAY FOR XE AND I915 DRIVERSMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/gpu/drm/i915/display/ · intel-gfx@lists.freedesktop.org · Supported
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Not established. This site could not find the build rule for the affected file in the kernel trees Debian ships, so it has no answer about whether Debian compiles this code. Read that as unknown, never as absent.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sid?
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
Where a release above reads "not established", no build rule for the affected file was found in that release's kernel tree. That is a gap in this lookup, not a finding that the code is absent.
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-15 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.18%, higher than 6.5% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/gpu
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.12.80 | 6.12.97 | 164afa1a3af8 |
| 6.18.21 | 6.18.40 | 2024940522ef |
| 7.0 | 7.1.5 | ac554ad94361 |
| 7.0 | 7.2 | 31f077088e0f |
| 6.19.11 | 0 | 0 |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:LAttack vector, local
- The bug is reached only through the i915 DRM atomic commit path (DRM_IOCTL_MODE_ATOMIC on /dev/dri/card*), which calls intel_atomic_check() -> intel_crtc_prepare_cleared_state() -> intel_crtc_free_hw_state(); this is local ioctl access to the display driver, not a network protocol.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- Triggering the failure requires a modeset atomic commit on a CRTC with color blobs and an active DP tunnel reference; intel_dp_tunnel_atomic_clear_stream_bw() can return -EDEADLK from drm_atomic_get_private_obj_state(), and an attacker can force that ww_mutex deadlock with concurrent atomic ioctl threads they control.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- Exploitation needs DRM master on the primary DRM node to issue atomic modesets; on Intel client systems this is held by the session compositor or obtainable by a local session user with /dev/dri/card0 access, which is standard unprivileged desktop privilege rather than init-namespace root.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim interaction is required beyond the attacker issuing their own DRM atomic property/modeset ioctl sequences to set CRTC color blobs and provoke the failing DP tunnel cleanup path.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The double-free corrupts kernel heap drm_property_blob objects inside the i915 display driver; impact stays within kernel memory management and does not inherently cross a VM/host or sandbox security boundary without separate exploitation.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- intel_crtc_put_color_blobs() can drop the same drm_property_blob references twice because pointers are not cleared after the first put; this double-free/use-after-free of heap objects can expose kernel memory contents and is scored as arbitrary read potential per UAF guidance.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- Repeated drm_property_blob_put() on stale pointers causes refcount underflow and slab freelist corruption on kvzalloc-backed blobs, providing a standard kernel heap corruption primitive that can be leveraged for arbitrary write or code execution.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- The refcount double-free during failed atomic state cleanup can immediately panic/oops the kernel or destabilize the allocator; any successful trigger causes high availability impact even before full exploitation.