In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/mediatek: Fix pdev reference leak in mtk_drm_bind() When the device is not… (CVE-2026-98781)

The Linux kernel's drm/mediatek driver contained a reference leak in the mtk_drm_bind() function. Specifically, when the device was not the mmsys master, the function returned early after acquiring a reference on the disp-mutex device via of_find_device_by_node(), but failed to release this reference. The corresponding mtk_drm_unbind() function only released the reference for the master device, leaving the non-master device references unreleased. This flaw was corrected by ensuring the reference is dropped before returning from the non-master path.

The vulnerability causes a reference leak in kernel device management, which can lead to resource exhaustion or instability in the drm/mediatek subsystem. There is no indication of direct exploitation or escalation impact from the provided data.

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to address this reference leak by properly releasing the device reference in the non-master path of mtk_drm_bind(). Users should update to the patched kernel version once available. Patch status is not explicitly confirmed in the provided data; check the vendor advisory or Linux kernel mailing lists for the exact fixed version and update accordingly.