Incomplete cleanup in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72171

Vulnerability identifier: #VU143417

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-72171

CWE-ID: CWE-459

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to improper cleanup in register_device() in the slram driver when handling device registration failures. A local user can trigger allocation or registration failures to cause a denial of service.

The issue occurs after a partially initialized entry has already been linked into the global device list, and a later cleanup can dereference or free invalid state from that failed entry.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra (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)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1112.113, 5.15.0.1112.112
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1036.39+1
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

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/200b8bc5b6065b02f3775cf131f14b8e1156a00a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2fd0cbbb34447ccddab67a2a638a07c6d94cae7a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/36f1648644d769c496a8e47e53603e863e358d73
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ee674ab10f755bbedbcbb8e76745d2bb8de88d1
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bdcdfc2464659789032edfad15ff5f7a166f5d7b
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d8dcbbfa0d695a5244059aa34a2e81f3e8df1082
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e97415b8254d9cc131b7bb1c80fcf38123269b9a
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f40acf577bb0fb0829f285ecfeb27d817840601c

• Incomplete cleanup in Linux kernel mtd devices driver
• Ubuntu update for linux-gcp-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia
• Ubuntu update for linux-azure-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux-nvidia-tegra
• Ubuntu update for linux
• Ubuntu update for linux-azure
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0