CVE-2026-68180 intel_th: fix MSC output device reference leak
A reference leak in the Linux kernel Intel TH MSC driver allows local attackers to exhaust resources, potentially causing denial of service.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-68180?
CVE-2026-68180 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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:
intel_th: fix MSC output device reference leak
intel_th_output_open() looks up the output device with bus_find_device_by_devt(), which returns the device with a reference that must be dropped after use.
commit 95fc36a234da ("intel_th: fix device leak on output open()") attempted to drop the reference from intel_th_output_release(). However, a successful open replaces file->f_op with the output driver file operations before returning, so close runs the output driver release callback instead.
For MSC outputs, close runs intel_th_msc_release(), which only removes the per-file iterator and does not drop the device reference taken by intel_th_output_open(). Consequently, every successful MSC output open leaks one device reference.
Drop the device reference from intel_th_msc_release(), which is the release path actually used for MSC output files. Remove the now-unused intel_th_output_release() callback from intel_th_output_fops.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68180?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68180?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-68180 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68180 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68180, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68180, GHSA-qq33-46pr-rg4r, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68180.