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🛡️ CVE-2026-31584 — kernel

🟠 CVSS 7.8 — High ✅ No Known Exploit NVD
7.8
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

media: mediatek: vcodec: fix use-after-free in encoder release path

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

media: mediatek: vcodec: fix use-after-free in encoder release path

The fops_vcodec_release() function frees the context structure (ctx)

without first cancelling any pending or running work in ctx->encode_work.

This creates a race window where the workqueue handler (mtk_venc_worker)

may still be accessing the context memory after it has been freed.

Race condition:

CPU 0 (release path) CPU 1 (workqueue)

--------------------- ------------------

fops_vcodec_release()

v4l2_m2m_ctx_release()

v4l2_m2m_cancel_job()

// waits for m2m job "done"

mtk_venc_worker()

v4l2_m2m_job_finish()

// m2m job "done"

// BUT worker still running!

// post-job_finish access:

other ctx dereferences

// UAF if ctx already freed

// returns (job "done")

kfree(ctx) // ctx freed

Root cause: The v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() only waits for the m2m job

lifecycle (via TRANS_RUNNING flag), not the workqueue lifecycle.

After v4l2_m2m_job_finish() is called, the m2m framework considers

the job complete and v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() returns, but the worker

function continues executing and may still access ctx.

The work is queued during encode operations via:

queue_work(ctx->dev->encode_workqueue, &ctx->encode_work)

The worker function accesses ctx->m2m_ctx, ctx->dev, and other ctx

fields even after calling v4l2_m2m_job_finish().

This vulnerability was confirmed with KASAN by running an instrumented

test module that widens the post-job_finish race window. KASAN detected:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in mtk_venc_worker+0x159/0x180

Read of size 4 at addr ffff88800326e000 by task kworker/u8:0/12

Workqueue: mtk_vcodec_enc_wq mtk_venc_worker

Allocated by task 47:

__kasan_kmalloc+0x7f/0x90

fops_vcodec_open+0x85/0x1a0

Freed by task 47:

__kasan_slab_free+0x43/0x70

kfree+0xee/0x3a0

fops_vcodec_release+0xb7/0x190

Fix this by calling cancel_work_sync(&ctx->encode_work) before kfree(ctx).

This ensures the workqueue handler is both cancelled (if pending) and

synchronized (waits for any running handler to complete) before the

context is freed.

Placement rationale: The fix is placed after v4l2_ctrl_handler_free()

and before list_del_init(&ctx->list). At this point, all m2m operations

are done (v4l2_m2m_ctx_release() has returned), and we need to ensure

the workqueue is synchronized before removing ctx from the list and

freeing it.

Note: The open error path does NOT need cancel_work_sync() because

INIT_WORK() only initializes the work structure - it does not schedule

it. Work is only scheduled later during device_run() operations.

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.

Affected software

CVE-2026-31584 is recorded against 2 packages.

  • kernel (from 6.20.0 up to 7.0.1)
  • linux-kernel (from 7.0 up to 7.0.1)

Timeline and source

Published on 24 April 2026 and last revised on 12 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from NVD.

References

git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
git.kernel.org (Web)
github.com (Advisory)
nvd.nist.gov (Advisory)
git.kernel.org (Package)

CVE-2026-31584 on other distributions

Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:

Details

Severity High
CVSS Score 7.8
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CWE N/A
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source NVD
Published 2026-04-24
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-08-12

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
kernel 6.20.0 7.0.1
linux-kernel 7.0 7.0.1

Similar Threats

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