CVE-2026-89901 - Vulnerability Details

- media: airspy: use vb2_video_unregister_device() on disconnect to fix NULL deref

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

media: airspy: use vb2_video_unregister_device() on disconnect to fix NULL deref

airspy_disconnect() clears s->udev under v4l2_lock, but
airspy_stop_streaming() unconditionally calls airspy_ctrl_msg() and
airspy_free_stream_bufs() afterwards. If a streaming user closes the
device after disconnect, stop_streaming() runs and dereferences the
NULL s->udev:

airspy_stop_streaming()
airspy_ctrl_msg(s, CMD_RECEIVER_MODE, 0, 0, NULL, 0)
usb_sndctrlpipe(s->udev, 0) /* NULL deref */
airspy_free_stream_bufs(s)
usb_free_coherent(s->udev, ...) /* NULL deref */

The airspy driver uses vb2_fop_release() in its file_operations, so
replace video_unregister_device(&s->vdev) with
vb2_video_unregister_device(&s->vdev) and move it before clearing
s->udev. vb2_video_unregister_device() releases the vb2 queue, which
synchronously runs airspy_stop_streaming() if streaming is active, so
the URBs, coherent DMA stream buffers and the hardware stop control
message all execute while s->udev is still valid.

vb2_video_unregister_device() locks vdev->queue->lock (vb_queue_lock)
internally, and stop_streaming() locks v4l2_lock, so the previous outer
mutex_lock(&s->vb_queue_lock) / mutex_lock(&s->v4l2_lock) pair around
the unregister sequence would self-deadlock and has been removed. A
short v4l2_lock critical section around s->udev = NULL remains so any
ioctl path that still holds the file descriptor sees coherent state.

Issue identified by automated review of the INV-003 series at
https://sashiko.dev/

Published: 2026-09-16

Score: n/a

EPSS: < 1% Very Low

KEV: No

Impact:

Action:

Analysis

Impact

A null pointer dereference occurs in the Linux airspy media driver during a device disconnect while streaming. When the device is disconnected, the driver clears the USB device handle, but the stop‑streaming routine later attempts to use this cleared handle, leading to a kernel panic. The failure is a local denial of service: an attacker with access to the /dev/airspy device can crash the system by triggering the disconnect path while streaming is active.

Affected Systems

The flaw is in the Linux kernel’s airspy driver, affecting all Linux systems that load the airspy module. No specific kernel versions are listed, so any distribution using a kernel that includes the unpatched airspy driver is potentially impacted.

Risk and Exploitability

The CVSS score is not provided, but the EPSS score is reported as < 1%, suggesting a very low probability of exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The likely attack vector is local: an attacker must obtain physical or local access to the airspy device to induce the disconnect while streaming.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions

Linux

unaffected

Version	Status	Constraints
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< c9081e2655188d2d134a741aec837dc70439d505
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< 75089cea32e5055773bd13116236d08fdc98678a
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< 155d0378ae0d6305cc4840583a6b42d2d0595bff
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< 6e4ea90fdc6608cd5fac342e146ab6ae15d430bc
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< a9a8c37ddda9fa3687b142be9098e1c37b8faf35
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< 297fee023f46d771a844520675692ea089d80d9d
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< c6749ac8f59cc80eb1b2d52f167fdf13e12655cc
`634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d`	affected	< 2f378dc45e685fc825d2dd08e7864666d6fcc009

Linux

affected

Version	Status	Constraints
`3.17`	affected	—
`0`	unaffected	< 3.17
`5.10.270`	unaffected	≤ 5.10.*
`5.15.221`	unaffected	≤ 5.15.*
`6.1.188`	unaffected	≤ 6.1.*
`6.6.157`	unaffected	≤ 6.6.*
`6.12.110`	unaffected	≤ 6.12.*
`6.18.51`	unaffected	≤ 6.18.*
`7.2.5`	unaffected	≤ 7.2.*
`7.3-rc1`	unaffected	≤ *

No data.

Vendor Product Confidence Versions

Linux

Linux Kernel

99%

Version	Status	Scheme	Platform
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,c9081e2655188d2d134a741aec837dc70439d505)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,75089cea32e5055773bd13116236d08fdc98678a)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,155d0378ae0d6305cc4840583a6b42d2d0595bff)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,6e4ea90fdc6608cd5fac342e146ab6ae15d430bc)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,a9a8c37ddda9fa3687b142be9098e1c37b8faf35)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,297fee023f46d771a844520675692ea089d80d9d)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,c6749ac8f59cc80eb1b2d52f167fdf13e12655cc)`	affected	code_commit	—
`[634fe5033951b80ef4b98d8f047cb1083d29170d,2f378dc45e685fc825d2dd08e7864666d6fcc009)`	affected	code_commit	—

Linux

Linux Kernel

99%

Version	Status	Scheme	Platform
`3.17`	affected	generic	—
`[0,3.17)`	unaffected	generic	—
`[5.10.270,5.11.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[5.15.221,5.16.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[6.1.188,6.2.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[6.6.157,6.7.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[6.12.110,6.13.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[6.18.51,6.19.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[7.2.5,7.3.0)`	unaffected	semver	—
`[7.3-rc1,*]`	unaffected	semver	—

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Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

Update the Linux kernel to a version that includes the airspy driver fix, where vb2_video_unregister_device() is called before the USB handle is cleared.
If a kernel upgrade is not immediately possible, avoid disconnecting the airspy device while it is streaming; stop streaming via the device’s ioctl interface before powering down or removing the device.
After disconnecting the device, reboot the system to clear any residual kernel state and prevent potential crashes caused by the unpatched driver.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on September 18, 2026 at 03:47 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

Source	ID	Title
Debian DLA	DLA-4817-1	linux-6.12 security update
Debian DSA	DSA-6528-1	linux security update

No CVSS v4.0

No CVSS v3.1

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

The EPSS score is 0.0021.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

References

Link	Providers
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/155d0378ae0d6305cc4840583a6b42d2d0595bff
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/297fee023f46d771a844520675692ea089d80d9d
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f378dc45e685fc825d2dd08e7864666d6fcc009
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e4ea90fdc6608cd5fac342e146ab6ae15d430bc
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75089cea32e5055773bd13116236d08fdc98678a
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9a8c37ddda9fa3687b142be9098e1c37b8faf35
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6749ac8f59cc80eb1b2d52f167fdf13e12655cc
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9081e2655188d2d134a741aec837dc70439d505

History

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 04:15:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Weaknesses		CWE-476

Wed, 16 Sep 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Type	Values Removed	Values Added
Description		In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: airspy: use vb2_video_unregister_device() on disconnect to fix NULL deref airspy_disconnect() clears s->udev under v4l2_lock, but airspy_stop_streaming() unconditionally calls airspy_ctrl_msg() and airspy_free_stream_bufs() afterwards. If a streaming user closes the device after disconnect, stop_streaming() runs and dereferences the NULL s->udev: airspy_stop_streaming() airspy_ctrl_msg(s, CMD_RECEIVER_MODE, 0, 0, NULL, 0) usb_sndctrlpipe(s->udev, 0) /* NULL deref / airspy_free_stream_bufs(s) usb_free_coherent(s->udev, ...) / NULL deref */ The airspy driver uses vb2_fop_release() in its file_operations, so replace video_unregister_device(&s->vdev) with vb2_video_unregister_device(&s->vdev) and move it before clearing s->udev. vb2_video_unregister_device() releases the vb2 queue, which synchronously runs airspy_stop_streaming() if streaming is active, so the URBs, coherent DMA stream buffers and the hardware stop control message all execute while s->udev is still valid. vb2_video_unregister_device() locks vdev->queue->lock (vb_queue_lock) internally, and stop_streaming() locks v4l2_lock, so the previous outer mutex_lock(&s->vb_queue_lock) / mutex_lock(&s->v4l2_lock) pair around the unregister sequence would self-deadlock and has been removed. A short v4l2_lock critical section around s->udev = NULL remains so any ioctl path that still holds the file descriptor sees coherent state. Issue identified by automated review of the INV-003 series at https://sashiko.dev/
Title		media: airspy: use vb2_video_unregister_device() on disconnect to fix NULL deref
First Time appeared		Linux Linux linux Kernel
CPEs		cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
Vendors & Products		Linux Linux linux Kernel
References		https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/155d0378ae0d6305cc4840583a6b42d2d0595bff https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/297fee023f46d771a844520675692ea089d80d9d https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2f378dc45e685fc825d2dd08e7864666d6fcc009 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e4ea90fdc6608cd5fac342e146ab6ae15d430bc https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75089cea32e5055773bd13116236d08fdc98678a https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a9a8c37ddda9fa3687b142be9098e1c37b8faf35 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6749ac8f59cc80eb1b2d52f167fdf13e12655cc https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9081e2655188d2d134a741aec837dc70439d505

Subscriptions

Linux Linux Kernel

MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Linux

Published: 2026-09-16T10:32:00.997Z

Updated: 2026-09-16T10:32:00.997Z

Reserved: 2026-09-11T19:38:34.774Z

Link: CVE-2026-89901

Vulnrichment

No data.

NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-16T11:16:59.003

Modified: 2026-09-16T11:16:59.003

Link: CVE-2026-89901

Redhat

No data.

OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-09-18T20:15:14Z

Weaknesses

CWE-476
NULL Pointer Dereference

Impact

Affected Systems

Risk and Exploitability

Tracking

Subscriptions

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