# CVE-2026-43263: media: chips-media: wave5: Fix Null reference while testing fluster

> A null pointer dereference in the Linux kernel's wave5 media driver can cause a denial of service when multiple decoder instances are created or destroyed.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43263, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43263, GHSA-96q3-68gv-9r3h, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-43263, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43263, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43263

## What is CVE-2026-43263?

CVE-2026-43263 is a high-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: chips-media: wave5: Fix Null reference while testing fluster

When multi instances are created/destroyed, many interrupts happens
and structures for decoder are removed.
"struct vpu_instance" this structure is shared for all flow in the decoder,
so if the structure is not protected by lock, Null dereference
could happens sometimes.
IRQ Handler was spilt to two phases and Lock was added as well.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43263?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43263?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43263 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43263 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-2026-43263 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43263 is a high-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-2026-43263 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-2026-43263/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43263/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43263
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43263
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43263

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43263/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.