# CVE-2026-46245: drm/amd/display: Fix dc_link NULL handling in HPD init

> A null pointer dereference in the AMD display driver can cause a kernel crash when initializing hot-plug detection for certain connectors.

- **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:** 3 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-89336, BELL-CVE-2026-46245, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-46245, GHSA-gc8h-w3qg-mpcq, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-46245, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-46245, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-46245, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-46245, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-46245, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-46245

## What is CVE-2026-46245?

CVE-2026-46245 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jun 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/amd/display: Fix dc_link NULL handling in HPD init

amdgpu_dm_hpd_init() may see connectors without a valid dc_link.

The code already checks dc_link for the polling decision, but later
unconditionally dereferences it when setting up HPD interrupts.

Assign dc_link early and skip connectors where it is NULL.

Fixes the below:
drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/../display/amdgpu_dm/amdgpu_dm_irq.c:940 amdgpu_dm_hpd_init()
error: we previously assumed 'dc_link' could be null (see line 931)

drivers/gpu/drm/amd/amdgpu/../display/amdgpu_dm/amdgpu_dm_irq.c
    923                 /*
    924                  * Analog connectors may be hot-plugged unlike other connector
    925                  * types that don't support HPD. Only poll analog connectors.
    926                  */
    927                 use_polling |=
    928                         amdgpu_dm_connector->dc_link &&
                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ The patch adds this NULL check but hopefully it can be removed

    929                         dc_connector_supports_analog(amdgpu_dm_connector->dc_link->link_id.id);
    930
    931                 dc_link = amdgpu_dm_connector->dc_link;

dc_link assigned here.

    932
    933                 /*
    934                  * Get a base driver irq reference for hpd ints for the lifetime
    935                  * of dm. Note that only hpd interrupt types are registered with
    936                  * base driver; hpd_rx types aren't. IOW, amdgpu_irq_get/put on
    937                  * hpd_rx isn't available. DM currently controls hpd_rx
    938                  * explicitly with dc_interrupt_set()
    939                  */
--> 940                 if (dc_link->irq_source_hpd != DC_IRQ_SOURCE_INVALID) {
                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If it's NULL then we are trouble because we dereference it here.

    941                         irq_type = dc_link->irq_source_hpd - DC_IRQ_SOURCE_HPD1;
    942                         /*
    943                          * TODO: There's a mismatch between mode_info.num_hpd
    944                          * and what bios reports as the # of connectors with hpd

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-46245?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-46245?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-46245 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-46245 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-2026-46245 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-46245 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 3 Jun 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-2026-46245 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-2026-46245/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46245/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46245
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46245
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-46245

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-46245/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.