# CVE-2026-68261: drm/imagination: fix error checking of pvr_vm_context_lookup()

> A local attacker can trigger a kernel crash by passing an invalid VM context handle to the Imagination DRM driver due to incorrect error checking.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 10 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-68261, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68261, GHSA-72mp-653c-9r74, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68261

## What is CVE-2026-68261?

CVE-2026-68261 is a 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:

drm/imagination: fix error checking of pvr_vm_context_lookup()

Since pvr_vm_context_lookup() returns either NULL or a pointer, then stop
using IS_ERR() for checking the return value.

Using IS_ERR() leads to the kernel oops reported below. It can be
reproduced by passing an invalid VM context handle from userspace to the
DRM_IOCTL_PVR_CREATE_CONTEXT ioctl.

[   92.733119] Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000148
[   92.742042] Mem abort info:
[   92.744890]   ESR = 0x0000000096000004
[   92.748686]   EC = 0x25: DABT (current EL), IL = 32 bits
[   92.754020]   SET = 0, FnV = 0
[   92.757154]   EA = 0, S1PTW = 0
[   92.760337]   FSC = 0x04: level 0 translation fault
[   92.765243] Data abort info:
[   92.768129]   ISV = 0, ISS = 0x00000004, ISS2 = 0x00000000
[   92.773626]   CM = 0, WnR = 0, TnD = 0, TagAccess = 0
[   92.778763]   GCS = 0, Overlay = 0, DirtyBit = 0, Xs = 0
[   92.784098] user pgtable: 4k pages, 48-bit VAs, pgdp=000000088ed23000
[   92.790550] [0000000000000148] pgd=0000000000000000, p4d=0000000000000000
[   92.797381] Internal error: Oops: 0000000096000004 [#1]  SMP
[   92.803027] Modules linked in: powervr
[   92.852533] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 409 Comm: triangle Not tainted 7.1.0-rc5-g98b46e693b91 #1 PREEMPT
[   92.861385] Hardware name: Texas Instruments AM68 SK (DT)
[   92.866766] pstate: 60000005 (nZCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[   92.873709] pc : pvr_vm_get_fw_mem_context+0x0/0xc [powervr]
[   92.879376] lr : pvr_queue_create+0x26c/0x440 [powervr]
[   92.884595] sp : ffff8000837fbb00
[   92.887895] x29: ffff8000837fbb60 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: ffff8000837fbce8
[   92.895015] x26: ffff000807f61a40 x25: ffff000807f61a00 x24: ffff000807f64400
[   92.902135] x23: ffff00080a5ab000 x22: ffff800079b24730 x21: ffff000807f61800
[   92.909254] x20: ffff00080999e680 x19: 0000000000000000 x18: 0000000000000000
[   92.916373] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000001
[   92.923492] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000002 x12: ffff80008145b298
[   92.930611] x11: ffff8000844e5000 x10: ffff80008165a130 x9 : 0000000000000100
[   92.937730] x8 : 0000000000000001 x7 : ffff0008076b27e0 x6 : ffff00080ec43b7c
[   92.944850] x5 : ffff00080ec43b78 x4 : 0000000000000000 x3 : ffff00080999e680
[   92.951968] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000
[   92.959088] Call trace:
[   92.961521]  pvr_vm_get_fw_mem_context+0x0/0xc [powervr] (P)
[   92.967173]  pvr_context_create+0x190/0x410 [powervr]
[   92.972218]  pvr_ioctl_create_context+0x44/0x8c [powervr]
[   92.977608]  drm_ioctl_kernel+0xbc/0x124 [drm]
[   92.982127]  drm_ioctl+0x1f8/0x4dc [drm]
[   92.986098]  __arm64_sys_ioctl+0xac/0x104
[   92.990102]  invoke_syscall+0x54/0x10c
[   92.993842]  el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x40/0xe0
[   92.998532]  do_el0_svc+0x1c/0x28
[   93.001835]  el0_svc+0x38/0x11c
[   93.004969]  el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe4
[   93.009139]  el0t_64_sync+0x198/0x19c
[   93.012792] Code: aa1703e0 d2800014 95cb0ba4 17ffffe8 (f940a400)
[   93.018869] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68261?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-68261?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-68261 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-68261 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-68261 is a 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68261 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-68261/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68261/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-68261
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-68261
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-68261

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-68261/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
