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CVE-2026-97513
media: chips-media: wave5: Release m2m_ctx after Instance Removed from List
Published 2026-09-24 (24 days ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/media. Debian urgency: unimportant.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-97513 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 | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.2.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.2.6-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.2.6-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Possible use after free if IRQ thread manages to obtain spinlock between m2m_ctx release and wave5_release function removing stream instance from list of active instances. The IRQ thread looks for the m2m_ctx which is freed so null pointer dereference occurs.
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/media/platform/chips-media/wave5/wave5-helper.c
- What this is
- WAVE5 VPU CODEC DRIVERMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/media/platform/chips-media/wave5/ · linux-media@vger.kernel.org · Maintained
Check it on the machine
grep -w CONFIG_VIDEO_WAVE_VPU /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian does not build this code in 3 releases. The build rule could not be established for 1 release, so nothing is claimed about those.
- bookworm?
- trixie, forky, sidn
- ?
- not established - no Makefile entry for the affected file
- n
- not enabled on any flavour - this release does not build the code
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.
- Build switch
- CONFIG_VIDEO_WAVE_VPU
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 kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-09-24 (24 days 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
- 0.11%, higher than 1.4% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- unimportantsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/media
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 6.8 | 6.18.53 | 04cda0b5c4ca |
| 6.8 | 7.2 | 7cdbd7bb2194 |
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 UAF is in wave5_vpu_release_device(), reached only by close() on the Wave5 V4L2 mem2mem node (/dev/videoN): v4l2_release -> wave5_vpu_dec_release/wave5_vpu_enc_release. No network, Bluetooth, or USB packet supplies the triggering state.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- The attacker queues decode/encode work so the VPU raises INT_WAVE5_DEC_PIC/ENC_PIC into inst->irq_status, then close()s so v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() kfree's m2m_ctx while the instance is still on dev->instances. Both sides of the race (STREAMON/QBUF vs close) are attacker-controlled and retryable.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- v4l2_open, wave5_vpu_open_dec(), and wave5_vpu_open_enc() perform no capable() checks; access is only the video node. On TI K3 systems that ship this driver, that node is available to unprivileged video-group or media-client users, not init-namespace root.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- The attacker opens the Wave5 decoder or encoder themselves, STREAMONs, and close()s that fd to enter wave5_vpu_release_device(). No separate victim action such as mounting a filesystem is required.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The UAF of inst->v4l2_fh.m2m_ctx is in the host Wave5 media driver and affects the same kernel security authority. It is not a VM escape, IOMMU bypass, or other cross-boundary impact.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- After v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() kfree's m2m_ctx, wave5_vpu_irq_thread() still finds the instance on dev->instances and wave5_vpu_dec_finish_decode()/wave5_vpu_enc_finish_encode() read the freed object (v4l2_m2m_get_dst_vq and related helpers), a slab UAF that enables arbitrary read.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The same finish_process path writes through the freed m2m_ctx via v4l2_m2m_job_finish(), v4l2_m2m_dst_buf_remove_by_idx()/v4l2_m2m_src_buf_remove_by_idx(), and v4l2_m2m_buf_done(), so reclaiming the kzalloc'd context yields a kernel write/control-flow primitive.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Use of the dangling m2m_ctx in wave5_vpu_dec_finish_decode()/wave5_vpu_enc_finish_encode() oopses the kernel (the commit documents a NULL deref of the freed context) even when the UAF is not fully exploited.