[PATCH] media: v4l2-ctrls: validate AV1 ref_frame_idx and primary_ref_frame

From: Doruk Tan Ozturk

Date: Sun Jun 28 2026 - 09:41:19 EST


The stateless AV1 frame control V4L2_CID_STATELESS_AV1_FRAME carries
ref_frame_idx[V4L2_AV1_REFS_PER_FRAME] (signed, -128..127) and
primary_ref_frame (__u8), both copied from userspace. validate_av1_frame()
already checks flags, quantization, segmentation, loop filter, CDEF, loop
restoration and superres, but never bounds these reference indices.

Decoders use them directly as array subscripts. In the MediaTek decoder
vdec_av1_slice_setup_ref() does:

int ref_idx = ctrl_fh->ref_frame_idx[i];
pfc->ref_idx[i] = ctrl_fh->reference_frame_ts[ref_idx];
slot_id = frame->ref_frame_map[ref_idx];

indexing reference_frame_ts[8] and ref_frame_map[8] with an attacker
controlled signed value. In the Rockchip/verisilicon decoder the CDF setup
does:

rockchip_av1_get_cdfs(ctx, frame->ref_frame_idx[frame->primary_ref_frame]);

indexing ref_frame_idx[7] with the unbounded primary_ref_frame. Both are
out-of-bounds reads driven by unvalidated userspace input.

Validate in the core, like the other AV1 frame fields, so every decoder is
covered: reject ref_frame_idx entries outside
[0, V4L2_AV1_TOTAL_REFS_PER_FRAME) and primary_ref_frame >=
V4L2_AV1_TOTAL_REFS_PER_FRAME. The upper bound still permits the value 7
(PRIMARY_REF_NONE), which decoders handle explicitly.

Found by 0sec's autonomous vulnerability analysis (https://0sec.ai).
Found by static analysis; not yet runtime-reproduced (Rockchip/MediaTek SoC
hardware required).

Fixes: 9de30f579980 ("media: Add AV1 uAPI")
Assisted-by: 0sec:claude-opus-4.8
Signed-off-by: Doruk Tan Ozturk <doruk@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls-core.c | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls-core.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls-core.c
index ba047d7d8601..5096c48ea402 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls-core.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls-core.c
@@ -793,6 +793,7 @@ static int validate_av1_film_grain(struct v4l2_ctrl_av1_film_grain *fg)
static int validate_av1_frame(struct v4l2_ctrl_av1_frame *f)
{
int ret = 0;
+ u32 i;

ret = validate_av1_quantization(&f->quantization);
if (ret)
@@ -836,6 +837,14 @@ static int validate_av1_frame(struct v4l2_ctrl_av1_frame *f)
if (f->superres_denom > GENMASK(2, 0) + 9)
return -EINVAL;

+ for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(f->ref_frame_idx); i++)
+ if (f->ref_frame_idx[i] < 0 ||
+ f->ref_frame_idx[i] >= V4L2_AV1_TOTAL_REFS_PER_FRAME)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ if (f->primary_ref_frame >= V4L2_AV1_TOTAL_REFS_PER_FRAME)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
return 0;
}

--
2.43.0