Bug 2461445 (CVE-2026-31576)

Summary: CVE-2026-31576 kernel: media: hackrf: fix to not free memory after the device is registered in hackrf_probe()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's hackrf driver. A race condition exists where memory for the hackrf device is freed prematurely during device unregistration, even when file descriptors are still in use. This allows a local user to trigger a use-after-free and double-free vulnerability. Successful exploitation can lead to system instability, crashes, or a denial of service.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-24 15:01:54 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

media: hackrf: fix to not free memory after the device is registered in hackrf_probe()

In hackrf driver, the following race condition occurs:
```
		CPU0						CPU1
hackrf_probe()
  kzalloc(); // alloc hackrf_dev
  ....
  v4l2_device_register();
  ....
						fd = sys_open("/path/to/dev"); // open hackrf fd
						....
  v4l2_device_unregister();
  ....
  kfree(); // free hackrf_dev
  ....
						sys_ioctl(fd, ...);
						  v4l2_ioctl();
						    video_is_registered() // UAF!!
						....
						sys_close(fd);
						  v4l2_release() // UAF!!
						    hackrf_video_release()
						      kfree(); // DFB!!
```

When a V4L2 or video device is unregistered, the device node is removed so
new open() calls are blocked.

However, file descriptors that are already open-and any in-flight I/O-do
not terminate immediately; they remain valid until the last reference is
dropped and the driver's release() is invoked.

Therefore, freeing device memory on the error path after hackrf_probe()
has registered dev it will lead to a race to use-after-free vuln, since
those already-open handles haven't been released yet.

And since release() free memory too, race to use-after-free and
double-free vuln occur.

To prevent this, if device is registered from probe(), it should be
modified to free memory only through release() rather than calling
kfree() directly.