Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52 wave5 wave5_release use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52. This affects the function wave5_release of the component wave5. The manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-97513. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.52. Affected is the function wave5_release of the component wave5. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: chips-media: wave5: Release m2m_ctx after Instance Removed from List Possible use after free if IRQ thread manages to obtain spinlock between m2m_ctx release and wave5_release function removing stream instance from list of active instances. The IRQ thread looks for the m2m_ctx which is freed so null pointer dereference occurs.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-97513 since 09/24/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $5k-$25k (estimation calculated on 09/24/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.53 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 04cda0b5c4ca3f61cbc86e41ead3c462c8cfd659/7cdbd7bb21949a8fda10c7104a2b12ee363cbf5c is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Once again VulDB remains the best source 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
• 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
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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