Kernel crash via wave5 release-order race
Published Sep 24, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux wave5 VPU driver before 6.18.53 allows local users to crash the kernel when closing a stream. wave5_vpu_release_device releases the V4L2 m2m context before removing its stream instance from the IRQ-visible active list, allowing the IRQ thread to obtain the lock and dereference the released context. Exploitation requires access to a Wave5 VPU video device and the teardown race; the documented consequence is a null-pointer dereference and kernel crash.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux wave5 VPU driver before 6.18.53 allows local users to crash the kernel when closing a stream. wave5_vpu_release_device releases the V4L2 m2m context before removing its stream instance from the IRQ-visible active list, allowing the IRQ thread to obtain the lock and dereference the released context. Exploitation requires access to a Wave5 VPU video device and the teardown race; the documented consequence is a null-pointer dereference and kernel crash.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-97513
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <6.18.53
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <04cda0b5c4ca3f61cbc86e41ead3c462c8cfd659
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <7cdbd7bb21949a8fda10c7104a2b12ee363cbf5c
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Get started