CVE-2026-68216 media: pwc: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure
A memory leak in the Linux kernel pwc driver allows attackers to cause denial of service by triggering start_streaming failures.
- 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-2026-68216?
CVE-2026-68216 is a high-severity memory corruption 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:
media: pwc: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure
The vb2 framework hands buffers to the driver via buf_queue() before calling start_streaming(). If start_streaming() returns an error without first returning those buffers via vb2_buffer_done(), vb2_start_streaming() fires WARN_ON(owned_by_drv_count) and the queued buffers leak.
pwc's start_streaming() had two early returns that hit this trap: -ENODEV when the USB device was already disconnected, and -ERESTARTSYS when mutex_lock_interruptible() was interrupted by a signal. Call the existing pwc_cleanup_queued_bufs() helper with VB2_BUF_STATE_QUEUED before returning (matching the state already used by the pwc_isoc_init() error path in the same function).
This mirrors the uvcvideo fix in commit 4cf3b6fd54eb ("media: uvcvideo: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure").
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68216?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68216?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-68216 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68216 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68216, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68216, GHSA-3p7c-r2j9-9rqv, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68216.