Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's display driver for certain older hardware could allow a local user to cause a system crash or instability. The issue occurs when the system fails to properly release memory during a specific hardware initialization error. This could lead to a memory leak that eventually exhausts system resources, impacting the availability of the device.
Technical details
A memory leak exists in the vt8500lcdfb driver within the Linux kernel's fbdev subsystem. The vulnerability is located in the vt8500lcd_probe() function, where the screen_buffer is allocated using dma_alloc_coherent() but is not released via dma_free_coherent() if a subsequent error occurs during the device probing process (specifically if palette buffer allocation fails). An attacker with local access could potentially trigger this error path to exhaust kernel memory, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS). The issue has been resolved by adding the missing dma_free_coherent() call to the error handling path.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 3.7 to 5.10.252, 5.11 to 5.15.202, 5.16 to 6.1.165, 6.2 to 6.6.128, 6.7 to 6.12.75, 6.13 to 6.18.16, 6.19 to 6.19.6
Timeline
- 2026-01-12: other: Patch authored
- 2026-05-06: disclosed: CVE published
- 2026-05-06: advisory
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2cd2f988a8bd2da227f5c3cfa0cbf3a9a287ddc3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40c1ff25025150ff6d7ec7ad441fcfd6d070ee76
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/778f31be5b8c10024db23fdd8a05f68a02311008
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/88b3b9924337336a31cefbe99a22ed09401be74a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a9bc60ed372aaae9784ff8ad8e5f496ff15fd31
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9c3873cccb3fab54cde0605ae7093d332c99073e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8c5d5f6cd66e032f9aefdcc21b0c34761aef78a