CVE-2026-68213

media: rtl2832_sdr: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: August 10, 2026 at 12:00 PM UTC
Updated: October 19, 2026 at 09:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: rtl2832_sdr: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure The vb2 framework hands buffers to the driver via buf_queue() before calling start_streaming(). If start_streaming() returns an error without first returning those buffers via vb2_buffer_done(), vb2_start_streaming() fires WARN_ON(owned_by_drv_count) and the queued buffers leak. rtl2832_sdr_start_streaming() had multiple error paths that hit this trap: two direct early returns (-ENODEV, -ERESTARTSYS), plus six `goto err` paths covering subdev s_power, tuner setup, ADC setup, stream-buffer allocation, urb allocation, and urb submission failures. None of them returned the queued buffers. The original function had no distinct success exit and fell straight through into the err label, which previously only did mutex_unlock and "return ret". Adding queued-buffer cleanup at err must therefore be paired with an explicit success return; otherwise every successful start would also drain the buffer queue and kill streaming. Add that success return, then add rtl2832_sdr_cleanup_queued_bufs() at the err label and before each early return. The cleanup helper takes a vb2_buffer_state argument so that the start_streaming error paths can pass VB2_BUF_STATE_QUEUED (as expected by userspace on start_streaming failure) while stop_streaming keeps its existing VB2_BUF_STATE_ERROR semantics. This mirrors the uvcvideo fix in commit 4cf3b6fd54eb ("media: uvcvideo: Return queued buffers on start_streaming() failure"). The err label still does not roll back power_ctrl(), frontend_ctrl(), the POWER_ON flag, or stream/URB allocations that may have happened before the failing step. Those are pre-existing leaks of a different class and are not addressed here.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

3.15771138920eafa399f68d3492c8a75dfeea23474b
Vendor states this is fixed in 0b08c0403cf672a121ace4eff647a9b240bd4e1b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 33ca0aab6f4bd90921fc1395478f38f72c4d19af (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 465dc8e71d2db2ed603e749fa71392bcdccf07eb (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 772f2550fe32357557d3b2f88e02f7cf477f0789 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 894e83509c66910112b9eaeaa8cd66cd9806db91 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in a248273f8af6e630a03e823274385725974009b5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in fc0b18782aab4e35078efe72863df8eab46560a8 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in fd1e11fc3849169285e48b2d4ec441614ad2ea74 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3.15 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.265 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.216 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.183 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.101 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.42 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.148 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.1.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED
CWE
CWE-401

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