Missing release of memory after effective lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23261
Published: March 20, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU124187
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-23261
CWE-ID: CWE-401
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Linux Foundation
Affected software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to improper memory resource management in the NVMe/FC controller initialization component when processing controller setup operations. A local user can trigger a failure during controller initialization to cause a denial of service.
The issue arises because the admin tagset is not released if initialization fails, leading to memory resource leaks. This requires the ability to create and initialize an NVMe/FC controller, which is restricted to users with appropriate privileges.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-23261
Install security update from vendor's repository.