CVE-2026-46011: media: mtk-jpeg: fix use-after-free in release path due to uncancelled work

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-05-27 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: media: mtk-jpeg: fix use-after-free in release path due to uncancelled work The mtk_jpeg_release() function frees the context structure (ctx) without first cancelling any pending or running work in ctx->jpeg_work. This creates a race window where the workqueue callback may still be accessing the context memory after it has been freed. Race condition: CPU 0 (release) CPU 1 (workqueue) ---------------- ------------------ close() mtk_jpeg_release() mtk_jpegenc_worker() ctx = work->data // accessing ctx kfree(ctx) // freed! access ctx // UAF! The work is queued via queue_work() during JPEG encode/decode operations (via mtk_jpeg_device_run). If the device is closed while work is pending or running, the work handler will access freed memory. Fix this by calling cancel_work_sync() BEFORE acquiring the mutex. This ordering is critical: if cancel_work_sync() is called after mutex_lock(), and the work handler also tries to acquire the same mutex, it would cause a deadlock. Note: The open error path does NOT need cancel_work_sync() because INIT_WORK() only initializes the work structure - it does not schedule it. Work is only scheduled later during ioctl operations.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.2 before 6.6.140; from 6.7 before 6.12.86; from 6.13 before 6.18.27; from 6.19 before 7.0.4 — fixed in 6.12.86, 6.18.27, 6.6.140, 7.0.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.86, 6.18.27, 6.6.140, 7.0.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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