Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.50/7.2.4 CEC Core rc_free_device memory leak

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
6.2	$0-$5k	0.44

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.50/7.2.4. It has been classified as critical. This issue affects the function rc_free_device of the component CEC Core. This manipulation causes memory leak. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-89900. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.156/6.12.109/6.18.50/7.2.4. Affected by this vulnerability is the function rc_free_device of the component CEC Core. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: cec: core: Fix kmemleak due to missed rc_free_device() call The commit dccc0c3ddf8f ("media: rc: fix race between unregister and urb/irq callbacks") removed the implicit call to rc_free_device() from rc_unregister_device(). However, the commit missed to remove the NULL assignment of adap->rc that is now causing rc_free_device() to never be called on an allocated rc device. kmemleak reports following after e.g. dw-hdmi unbind: unreferenced object 0xffff00010ac10000 (size 4096): comm "kworker/u16:1", pid 39, jiffies 4294897739 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 20 23 4b 0a 01 00 ff ff 08 00 c1 0a 01 00 ff ff #K............. 08 00 c1 0a 01 00 ff ff 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ backtrace (crc e11baccc): kmemleak_alloc+0x38/0x44 __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x4a8/0x5e0 rc_allocate_device+0x48/0x2a0 cec_allocate_adapter+0x3ac/0x800 dw_hdmi_cec_probe+0x264/0x634 platform_probe+0xc0/0x188 really_probe+0x4a4/0x8e0 __driver_probe_device+0x2f8/0x440 driver_probe_device+0x60/0x160 __device_attach_driver+0x1a0/0x2a0 bus_for_each_drv+0x100/0x1a0 __device_attach+0x174/0x350 device_initial_probe+0x90/0xb0 bus_probe_device+0x4c/0x120 device_add+0xdec/0x116c platform_device_add+0x354/0x598 Remove the assignment of adap->rc to NULL to let cec_delete_adapter() free the allocated rc device after last user of the cec device exits to fix the kmemleak.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-89900 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/16/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 6.6.157, 6.12.110, 6.18.51, 7.2.5 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 954ee95a03b4d31d4505591bfaba02c24b75776b/f28a8e1ba4d67a18e4662e5acefd5a4389322366/695063fc57574dd117b1bc750ca189cf03a2caad/cca2407794795cecff7f8e5f5a79f4ef6b1d6f6c/a24ba0653f7154e671dc8d2bf64682ab2d042792 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.156
• 6.12.109
• 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
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.2

VulDB Base Score: 6.5
VulDB Temp Score: 6.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory leak
CWE: CWE-401 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.157/6.12.110/6.18.51/7.2.5/7.3-rc1
Patch: 954ee95a03b4d31d4505591bfaba02c24b75776b/f28a8e1ba4d67a18e4662e5acefd5a4389322366/695063fc57574dd117b1bc750ca189cf03a2caad/cca2407794795cecff7f8e5f5a79f4ef6b1d6f6c/a24ba0653f7154e671dc8d2bf64682ab2d042792

Timelineinfo

09/11/2026 CVE reserved
09/16/2026 +5 days Advisory disclosed
09/16/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/16/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-89900 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-89900
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-405739

Entryinfo

Created: 09/16/2026 14:25
Changes: 09/16/2026 14:25 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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