Missing release of memory after effective lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23258

 

Missing release of memory after effective lifetime in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23258

Published: March 20, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU124190
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 4.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-23258
CWE-ID: CWE-401
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

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

Linux kernel
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

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
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

Related Security Bulletins