CVE-2026-108094: Mutter: mutter: client-triggered use-after-free in wayland color-management icc image description path
A use-after-free flaw was found in mutter in the Wayland color-management ICC image-description path. A local attacker who can run a malicious Wayland client can destroy a wpimagedescriptionv1 resource while an asynchronous ICC file read is still in progress. When the read completes, the compositor uses the freed wlresource, writes into freed memory, and frees a pointer derived from that memory. This can crash the GNOME session and may allow arbitrary code execution within the compositor process.
Other sources
Summary: client-triggered use-after-free of a wpimagedescriptionv1 wlresource in the async ICC path
Requirements to exploit: A local unprivileged Wayland client that can connect to the compositor's Wayland socket ($XDGRUNTIMEDIR/wayland-N), including Flatpak/Snap apps with Wayland access. The client binds wpcolormanagerv1, creates an ICC image description (createicccreator → seticcfile → create), then destroys the wpimagedescriptionv1 resource while the asynchronous ICC file read is still in flight (create+destroy can be batched in one sendmsg). No elevated privileges beyond normal session client access are required.
Component affected: mutter (src/wayland/meta-wayland-color-management.c — creatoricccreate / onicccreatebytesread)
Version affected (maintainer): >= 47.0, < 51.0 Version fixed (maintainer): 51.0
Code-path note: The vulnerable pattern (unowned creatoricc->imagedescresource used after destroy in onicccreatebytesread) is present from mutter 49.rc through 50.4. It is not present in 47.x/48.x. Fixed code (refcounted MetaWaylandImageDescription; resource cleared on destroy) is in 50.5 and 51.0.
Patch available: Yes Upstream fix: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/mergerequests/5313 Key commit: 86141ab75b23 ("wayland/color-management: Fix lifetime of ICC image description"), merged 2026-09-11 Upstream report: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/mutter/-/issues/5025 Embargo: No Acknowledgment: Calif.io, in collaboration with Anthropic
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
mutterto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Fixed in 50.5
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Are sandboxed desktop applications within the threat model?
Yes. Flatpak or Snap applications that have access to the Wayland socket can act as the malicious client; elevated privileges are not required.
Does exploitation require user interaction or a separate race window controlled by the victim?
No user interaction is required. The malicious client can batch creation and destruction of the image-description resource in a single sendmsg while the asynchronous ICC read remains in progress.
Is the issue limited to remote attackers?
Yes, the stated attack vector is local. An attacker must be able to run a Wayland client that connects to the compositor's session Wayland socket.