CVE-2026-89870 media: zoran: Avoid freeing a registered video_device twice
A double-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's zoran video driver allows attackers to cause denial of service or potentially execute code via device teardown.
- 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-2026-89870?
CVE-2026-89870 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 16 Sep 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: zoran: Avoid freeing a registered video_device twice
zoran_init_video_device() installs zoran_vdev_release() as the video_device release callback through zoran_template. After video_register_device() succeeds, video_unregister_device() drops the registered video_device reference and the V4L2 core eventually invokes that release callback, which kfree()s the video_device.
zoran_exit_video_devices() called video_unregister_device() and then kfree(zr->video_dev), so device teardown could free the same video_device twice.
Remove the direct kfree() and clear the cached pointer after unregistering. The pre-registration failure path keeps its manual free because the video_device was not registered there.
This issue was found by a static analysis checker and confirmed by manual source review.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-89870?
How do I fix CVE-2026-89870?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-89870 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-89870 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-101579, BELL-CVE-2026-89870, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-89870, GHSA-vq76-xc8w-vp5g, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-89870.