Missing release of memory after effective lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23258
Published: March 20, 2026
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a memory leak.
The vulnerability exists due to improper memory management in the net: liquidio component when initializing network devices. A local user can trigger a failure during queue setup to cause a memory leak.
The issue occurs because the netdev pointer is not initialized before calling netif_set_real_num_rx_queues() and netif_set_real_num_tx_queues(), leading to failure in freeing the allocated netdev on error paths.
Affected software
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-xilinx-zynqmp (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package)
linux-fips (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-6.8 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-23258
linux (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.183.154, 5.15.0-183.193, 5.15.0-183.193~20.04.1, 5.15.0.185.108, 5.15.0.185.166, 5.15.0-185.195+fips1, 5.15.0-185.195~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1052.52, 5.15.0.1052.54, 5.15.0-1063.63, 5.15.0-1063.63~20.04.1, 5.15.0.1094.93, 5.15.0-1094.102, 5.15.0.1103.99, 5.15.0-1103.105, 5.15.0.1103.107, 5.15.0-1103.108, 5.15.0.1105.102, 5.15.0.1105.109, 5.15.0-1105.109~20.04.1, 5.15.0.1106.105, 5.15.0.1106.106, 5.15.0-1106.107, 5.15.0-1106.112, 5.15.0.1107.106, 5.15.0-1107.113, 5.15.0.1108.104, 5.15.0-1108.114, 5.15.0.1110.114, 5.15.0-1110.119, 5.15.0.1111.101, 5.15.0.1111.107, 5.15.0.1111.108, 5.15.0.1111.114, 5.15.0-1111.118, 5.15.0-1111.118+fips1, 5.15.0-1111.118~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1111.121, 5.15.0-1111.121+fips1, 5.15.0.1116.114, 5.15.0-1116.125, 5.15.0-1116.125~20.04.1, 6.8.0-117.117, 6.8.0-117.117.1, 6.8.0-117.117.1~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1041.44, 6.8.0-1054.60, 6.8.0-1055.56, 6.8.0-1055.56~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1055.58+fips1, 6.8.0-1056.60, 6.8.0-1058.61, 6.8.0-1058.61+fips1, 6.8.0-2045.46, 6.8.1-1051.52, 6.8.1-1051.52~22.04.1
linux-xilinx-zynqmp (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1074.77, 5.15.0-1074.78
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1105.103, 5.15.0-1105.108
linux-gcp-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1106.112~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1111.121~20.04.1
linux-oracle-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1108.114~20.04.1
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1116.101, 5.15.0-1116.125+fips1
linux-fips (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-116.116+fips1
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1024.24
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 6.8.0-1054.57, 6.8.0-1054.57.1
linux-nvidia-6.8 (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1054.57~22.04.1
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1056.62
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1d4590fde856cb94bd9a46e795c29d8288c238fc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/926ede0c85e1e57c97d64d9612455267d597bb2c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0e57c0b68c9e6f9a8fd7c1167861a5a730eb2f4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be109646cdaecab262f6276303b1763468c94378
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c0ed6c77ec34050971fd0df2a94dfdea66d09331
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c81a8515fb8c8fb5d0dbc21f48337494bf1d60df
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d028147ae06407cb355245db1774793600670169
Related Security Bulletins
- Missing release of memory after effective lifetime in Linux kernel cavium liquidio driver
- Ubuntu update for linux
- Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia
- Ubuntu update for linux-fips
- Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia-tegra
- Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia-6.8
- Ubuntu update for linux-azure
- Ubuntu update for linux
- Ubuntu update for linux-oracle-5.15
- Ubuntu update for linux-xilinx-zynqmp
- Ubuntu update for linux-raspi
- Ubuntu update for linux-gcp-5.15
- Ubuntu update for linux-azure-fips