# CVE-2026-72452: drm/i915: clear CRTC color blob pointers after dropping refs

> A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's i915 driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service or potentially execute code via improper pointer handling.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-72452, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72452, GHSA-fg7v-qr3p-44mc, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72452

## What is CVE-2026-72452?

CVE-2026-72452 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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/i915: clear CRTC color blob pointers after dropping refs

intel_crtc_put_color_blobs() drops the CRTC color blob references, but
leaves the corresponding pointers unchanged.

This can matter in intel_crtc_prepare_cleared_state(), which frees the
old CRTC hw state before calling intel_dp_tunnel_atomic_clear_stream_bw().
The latter can fail while looking up the DP tunnel group state, for
example with -EDEADLK.

If that happens, the function returns without completing the cleared
state preparation. The failed atomic state will then be cleared by the
atomic core and intel_crtc_free_hw_state() can be called again for the
same state, dropping the same blob references again.

Clear the blob pointers after dropping the references so repeated cleanup
of the same CRTC hw state is safe.

(cherry picked from commit d5005addb5f68e8a0edce249506757bdc9e3d8c8)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72452?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72452?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72452 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72452 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72452 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72452 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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-2026-72452 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-2026-72452/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72452/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72452
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72452
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72452

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72452/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.