Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72437

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Main Vulnerability Database Vulnerabilities #VU143005

Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72437

Published: August 15, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU143005
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-2026-72437
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 raid1_read_request() in the md/raid1 subsystem when handling retried reads with REQ_NOWAIT set and the read would block on retry. A local user can trigger this condition to cause a denial of service.

The issue occurs when a pre-allocated r1_bio already exists for the retried read and wait_read_barrier() fails.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-72437

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins