Executive brief
A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's driver for the OV8856 camera sensor. The software failed to properly release system memory if an error occurred during the camera's initialization process. While primarily a technical bug, such issues can potentially lead to system instability or resource exhaustion if triggered repeatedly.
Technical details
A resource leak exists in the ov8856_init_controls() function within drivers/media/i2c/ov8856.c. The vulnerability is caused by a failure to call v4l2_ctrl_handler_free() when v4l2_ctrl_new_std() or other control additions return an error. An attacker with the ability to trigger driver initialization failures could potentially cause a kernel memory leak. The issue has been resolved by adding an appropriate error exit label that ensures the control handler is freed before returning the error code. Fixes are available in multiple stable kernel branches including 5.15.y, 6.1.y, 6.6.y, 6.12.y, 6.18.y, and 7.0.y.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 5.1 to 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140, 6.12.90, 6.18.32, 7.0.9
Timeline
- 2026-03-12: disclosed: Initial patch authored
- 2026-07-19: advisory: CVE published by NVD
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/791598484fd558bb426ef5e051effa5c227d5390
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba9e9274c4ecfc039c45752dd6055137eaa5f08e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c13721040a566d832ee8a20ecf04b7ef288a1525
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1b3811c6b0f67fb7f0acfe09bf8244aa8b12465
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f727e3251ceee91f3d6e6d87e323aaf070f0de8e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f75e160745663ce9b13362ae6e90bd439c58df69
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fd10fb4c33bdc9c25c9b9d5e7e39f635e34c44a3