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Revert "media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()"

Type: advisorySources: OSV

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()" This reverts commit 2a934fdb01db6458288fc9386d3d8ceba6dd551a. The intentions of that patch were good, but it doesn't work. The idea is that if device_register fails, you have to do a put_device to let the ref counter release resources. However, the V4L2 API says that if video_register_device() fails, then you have to call video_device_release(), which kfree()s the video_device struct. But the put_device() will already have freed the struct, so you end up in a double-free scenario. There is not really a good way of fixing this without breaking video_register_device() into two parts, one that initializes everything, and one that does the actual device_register, and then converting all V4L2 drivers to this new model. That is a massive job, and it is very unlikely that device_register will fail. So rather than ending up in a double-free scenario, just revert this patch, and in that case we'll have a small memory leak. Which is a lot more robust.

Products
Kernel
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 6.6.157, 7.2.4
CVEs
CVE-2026-89741
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
3 Nov 2026, 12:38 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

Revert "media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()"

core-osv · Original source

Published 11 Sept 2026, 19:46 UTC

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert "media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()" This reverts commit 2a934fdb01db6458288fc9386d3d8ceba6dd551a. The intentions of that patch were good, but it doesn't work. The idea is that if device_register fails, you have to do a put_device to let the ref counter release resources. However, the V4L2 API says that if video_register_device() fails, then you have to call video_device_release(), which kfree()s the video_device struct. But the put_device() will already have freed the struct, so you end up in a double-free scenario. There is not really a good way of fixing this without breaking video_register_device() into two parts, one that initializes everything, and one that does the actual device_register, and then converting all V4L2 drivers to this new model. That is a massive job, and it is very unlikely that device_register will fail. So rather than ending up in a double-free scenario, just revert this patch, and in that case we'll have a small memory leak. Which is a lot more robust.

osv:CVE-2026-89741

Kernel

Fixed versions: 5.10.270, 5.15.221, 6.1.188, 6.6.157, 6.12.109, 6.18.50, 7.2.4

Complete source record
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    "title": "Revert \"media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()\"",
    "summary": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: Revert \"media: v4l2-dev: fix error handling in __video_register_device()\" This reverts commit 2a934fdb01db6458288fc9386d3d8ceba6dd551a. The intentions of that patch were good, but it doesn't work. The idea is that if device_register fails, you have to do a put_device to let the ref counter release resources. However, the V4L2 API says that if video_register_device() fails, then you have to call video_device_release(), which kfree()s the video_device struct. But the put_device() will already have freed the struct, so you end up in a double-free scenario. There is not really a good way of fixing this without breaking video_register_device() into two parts, one that initializes everything, and one that does the actual device_register, and then converting all V4L2 drivers to this new model. That is a massive job, and it is very unlikely that device_register will fail. So rather than ending up in a double-free scenario, just revert this patch, and in that case we'll have a small memory leak. Which is a lot more robust.",
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  "published_at": "2026-09-11T19:46:47.877+00:00"
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