Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Mediatek display driver for the Linux kernel can cause system instability and visual corruption on certain Mediatek-powered devices. When the system attempts to use a specific hardware-accelerated image compression feature (AFBC), it can lead to constant system timeouts and garbled screen output. This issue primarily affects the reliability and availability of the device's display functions.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in the Mediatek DRM driver's implementation of ARM Frame Buffer Compression (AFBC). The issue is rooted in the 'mtk_plane.c' component, where the 32x8/split/sparse modifier support causes persistent vblank wait timeouts and rendering failures on Mediatek MT8188 (Genio 700 EVK) hardware. An attacker with local access could potentially exploit this to cause a denial-of-service (system hang/timeout) or observe sensitive information through garbled memory rendering. The fix involves disabling AFBC support in the Mediatek DRM driver until a proper upstream resolution is implemented. Patching is available in stable kernel releases 6.6.117, 6.12.58, and 6.17.8.
Affected products
- Linux Linux 6.2 to 6.6.117, 6.12.58, 6.17.8
Timeline
- 2025-12-16: advisory: Initial disclosure and NVD publication
- 2025-11-13: patched: Fix committed to stable kernel branches