Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72219
Published: August 16, 2026
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a memory leak in nlm_lookup_file() when processing file handles rejected by the underlying export. A remote attacker can present crafted file handles that trigger nlm_do_fopen() failures to cause a denial of service.
Each failed open attempt leaks one newly allocated nlm_file object.
Affected software
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-72219
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1112.113, 5.15.0.1112.112
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 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38, 7.0.0-38.38.1, 7.0.0-1008.9, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14, 7.0.0-1015.15
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.15
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
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16, 7.0.0-1017.17
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1161c4b5bd0048c8148e919f818a33cff3623ef0
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1403f1221a35a6caf959bb7bf005741f17263c66
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/39f59bf67231ed2eb0cdf6337194360e964b609a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3f2dc01b9cb516d4727a3b9263ee58c71ca00ba9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bca74fff138429f3d5802865f38fc883d53a4f1a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d7c677feb3aa1f42b1026d75a8ea61338b51e4fb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ddfbd816273b4e9c9b836f5b8773664c6f40f807
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f16a1513452edb532fec81e591c64c320866719c