CVE-2026-68223 media: meson: vdec: Fix memory leak in error path of vdec_open
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Meson video decoder driver allows local attackers to exhaust system memory, 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-2026-68223?
CVE-2026-68223 is a 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: meson: vdec: Fix memory leak in error path of vdec_open
The vdec_open() function previously jumped directly to err_m2m_release when vdec_init_ctrls() failed, skipping release of the m2m context. This caused a resource leak.
Fix it by introducing a proper err_m2m_ctx_release label that calls v4l2_m2m_ctx_release(sess->m2m_ctx) before releasing the m2m device.
This was identified via kmemleak: unreferenced object 0xffff0000205d6878 (size 8): comm "v4l_id", pid 5289, jiffies 4294938580 hex dump (first 8 bytes): 40 d2 49 18 00 00 ff ff @.I..... backtrace (crc d3204599): kmemleak_alloc+0xc8/0xf0 __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x60c/0x850 v4l2_ctrl_handler_init_class+0x1b4/0x2e8 [videodev] vdec_open+0x1f4/0x788 [meson_vdec] v4l2_open+0x144/0x460 [videodev] chrdev_open+0x1ac/0x500 do_dentry_open+0x3f0/0xfe8 vfs_open+0x68/0x320 do_open+0x2d8/0x9a8 path_openat+0x1d0/0x4f0 do_filp_open+0x190/0x380 do_sys_openat2+0xf8/0x1b0 __arm64_sys_openat+0x13c/0x1e8 invoke_syscall+0xdc/0x268 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x178/0x258 do_el0_svc+0x4c/0x70
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68223?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68223?
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-2026-68223 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68223 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68223, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68223, GHSA-pjqw-98xm-c848, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68223.