Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2 media iris_release_internal_buffers use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2. Affected is the function iris_release_internal_buffers of the component media. This manipulation causes use after free. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-46240. There is no exploit available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function iris_release_internal_buffers of the component media. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: iris: Fix use-after-free in iris_release_internal_buffers() The recent change in commit 1dabf00ee206 ("media: iris: gen1: Destroy internal buffers after FW releases") introduced a regression where session_release_buf() may free the buffer. The caller, iris_release_internal_buffers(), continued to access `buffer` after the call, leading to a potential use-after-free. Fix this by setting BUF_ATTR_PENDING_RELEASE before calling session_release_buf(), and reverting the flag if the call fails. This ensures no dereference occurs after potential freeing.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-46240 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/11/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.32, 7.0.9 or 7.1-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch dd24998a4a4016fb9921916024399bd80f0d45c6/18c64439f249859b6140f7bf8bcf95c8ed841f28/f27cfdcfc916bb59297825805f4c3499f89f9e76 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2026-32758). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3
• 7.0.4
• 7.0.5
• 7.0.6
• 7.0.7
• 7.0.8
• 7.1-rc1
• 7.1-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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