# CVE-2026-43477: drm/i915/vrr: Configure VRR timings after enabling TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL

> A race condition in the Intel i915 graphics driver can cause a system hang or machine check exception when configuring VRR timings, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 13 May 2026
- **Updated:** 13 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-43477, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43477, GHSA-f8p8-wjf5-jrx9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43477

## What is CVE-2026-43477?

CVE-2026-43477 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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:

drm/i915/vrr: Configure VRR timings after enabling TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL

Apparently ICL may hang with an MCE if we write TRANS_VRR_VMAX/FLIPLINE
before enabling TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL.

Personally I was only able to reproduce a hang (on an Dell XPS 7390
2-in-1) with an external display connected via a dock using a dodgy
type-C cable that made the link training fail. After the failed
link training the machine would hang. TGL seemed immune to the
problem for whatever reason.

BSpec does tell us to configure VRR after enabling TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL
as well. The DMC firmware also does the VRR restore in two stages:
- first stage seems to be unconditional and includes TRANS_VRR_CTL
  and a few other VRR registers, among other things
- second stage is conditional on the DDI being enabled,
  and includes TRANS_DDI_FUNC_CTL and TRANS_VRR_VMAX/VMIN/FLIPLINE,
  among other things

So let's reorder the steps to match to avoid the hang, and
toss in an extra WARN to make sure we don't screw this up later.

BSpec: 22243
(cherry picked from commit 93f3a267c3dd4d811b224bb9e179a10d81456a74)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43477?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-43477?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-43477 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43477 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-2026-43477 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-43477 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 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-2026-43477 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-2026-43477/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43477/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43477
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43477
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43477

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43477/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.