Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-53261

 

Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-53261

Published: June 26, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU135483
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 4.8 [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]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-53261
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 denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to a memory leak in devlink_free() when freeing an unregistered devlink instance with a nested relation. A local user can trigger a probe failure after creating such a relation to cause a denial of service.

This can occur when a child devlink is linked to its parent before registration and the probe later fails.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-gke (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-bos (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-53261

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-gke (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 6.8.0-146.146.1~22.04.1, 6.8.0-146.146.1, 6.8.0-1051.55, 6.8.0-1063.66, 6.8.0-1064.67~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1064.67, 6.8.0-1064.67.1, 6.8.0-1065.73, 6.8.0-1066.67
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 6.8.0-1068.75~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1068.75, 6.8.0-1069.77+fips1, 6.8.0-1070.78~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1070.78, 7.0.0-1011.11, 7.0.0-1014.14
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1070.78
linux (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-31.31~24.04.1, 7.0.0-31.31, 7.0.0-31.31.1, 7.0.0-1006.7, 7.0.0-1011.11~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1012.12~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1012.12
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1011.11~24.04.1
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1011.11~24.04.1
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1013.13
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1013.13
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-nvidia-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18~24.04.1
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1019.19
linux-nvidia-bos (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-2018.18

External References

Related Security Bulletins