CVE-2026-97513 media: chips-media: wave5: Release m2m_ctx after Instance Removed from List
A race condition in the wave5 media driver causes a use-after-free leading to a null pointer dereference and system crash.
- 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-2026-97513?
CVE-2026-97513 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 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: chips-media: wave5: Release m2m_ctx after Instance Removed from List
Possible use after free if IRQ thread manages to obtain spinlock between m2m_ctx release and wave5_release function removing stream instance from list of active instances. The IRQ thread looks for the m2m_ctx which is freed so null pointer dereference occurs.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97513?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97513?
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-2026-97513 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97513 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-104036, BELL-CVE-2026-97513, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97513, GHSA-rvcg-65g6-42r4, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97513.