CVE-2026-99161

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's VIA/Wondermedia I2C driver. The driver fails to properly release clock resources if an initialization error occurs or when the driver is unloaded. A local user could exploit this flaw to cause an unreleased reference count leak, potentially leading to resource exhaustion and a denial of service (DoS).

This vulnerability is rated as Low severity because exploitation requires local administrative privileges to trigger driver probe failures or unload operations on specialized VIA/WonderMedia hardware platforms. Standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux configurations do not ship or enable this hardware driver, significantly limiting practical exposure. Furthermore, the issue results only in an unreclaimed clock reference counter over repeated reloads, preventing memory corruption or elevation of privilege.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.