# CVE-2026-43189: media: v4l2-async: Fix error handling on steps after finding a match

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's V4L2 async subsystem can cause a system crash during error handling after a device match.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43189, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43189, GHSA-qjw7-wgfm-9frq, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43189, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-43189, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43189, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43189, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43189

## What is CVE-2026-43189?

CVE-2026-43189 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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

media: v4l2-async: Fix error handling on steps after finding a match

Once an async connection is found to be matching with an fwnode, a
sub-device may be registered (in case it wasn't already), its bound
operation is called, ancillary links are created, the async connection
is added to the sub-device's list of connections and removed from the
global waiting connection list. Further on, the sub-device's possible own
notifier is searched for possible additional matches.

Fix these specific issues:

- If v4l2_async_match_notify() failed before the sub-notifier handling,
  the async connection was unbound and its entry removed from the
  sub-device's async connection list. The latter part was also done in
  v4l2_async_match_notify().

- The async connection's sd field was only set after creating ancillary
  links in v4l2_async_match_notify(). It was however dereferenced in
  v4l2_async_unbind_subdev_one(), which was called on error path of
  v4l2_async_match_notify() failure.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43189?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-43189 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43189 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43189/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43189/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43189
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43189
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43189

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43189/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.