Kernel panic via powered-down register access
Published May 6, 2026 · Updated May 6, 2026
A teardown-order flaw in the Linux Kernel wave5 VPU driver allows local users to cause a kernel panic during encoding. The removal path disables runtime power management before unregistering video devices, allowing wave5_vpu_irq_work_fn to read hardware registers after autosuspend powers down the VPU. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, affected Wave5 hardware, polling-mode activity, and the teardown race; the reported consequence is a synchronous external abort and system crash.
Summary
What happened
A teardown-order flaw in the Linux Kernel wave5 VPU driver allows local users to cause a kernel panic during encoding. The removal path disables runtime power management before unregistering video devices, allowing wave5_vpu_irq_work_fn to read hardware registers after autosuspend powers down the VPU. Exploitation requires local low-privileged access, affected Wave5 hardware, polling-mode activity, and the teardown race; the reported consequence is a synchronous external abort and system crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-43229
- Published
- May 6, 2026
- Updated
- May 6, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 6, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=6.8
- Affected versionversion=9707a6254a8a6b978bde811a44fe07d86c229d1c <526816f2e331954d80fed8b37fa94efbbdde2b8d
- Affected versionversion=9707a6254a8a6b978bde811a44fe07d86c229d1c <b73d85231d5b1400a4fa5046cdac6c4d7cc6d969
- Affected versionversion=9707a6254a8a6b978bde811a44fe07d86c229d1c <b74cedac643b02aefa7da881b58a3792859d9748
- Affected versionversion=9707a6254a8a6b978bde811a44fe07d86c229d1c <dc2b7deae740a3ed138fb7ae17c97fa4055cfc5f
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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