The Intel IPU6 media driver in the Linux kernel contains a flaw where asynchronous notifier initialization does not invoke the cleanup routine if a parse error occurs during the addition of fwnode remote subdevices. This omission causes all previously added v4l2_async_connection objects to remain in the notifier’s waiting list, leaking kernel memory and other resources Persistently leaked connections can build up over time, potentially exhausting kernel memory or connection limits and degrading system stability or availability.

All Linux kernel builds that include the unpatched Intel IPU6 media driver are affected. No specific kernel version numbers are listed, so any kernel image or module that ships the Intel IPU6 driver before the patch is vulnerable.

The EPSS score is reported as < 1%, indicating a low probability of exploitation. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. Based on the description, it is inferred that an attacker would need privileged or kernel-level access to trigger a parse error—such as by providing malformed firmware nodes or loading a malicious driver—to provoke the leak. Even without a publicly available exploit, the resource exhaustion impact could lead to denial of service if the attacker can repeatedly trigger the parsing routine. The CVSS score of 5.5 classifies the vulnerability as moderate severity.