Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98472

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156770

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-2026-98472

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to consume kernel memory and potentially cause a denial of service on the host.

The vulnerability exists due to a memory leak in the Linux kernel KVM SEV VM destruction path when destroying a VM that is no longer classified as an SEV VM following intra-host migration. A local user can repeatedly trigger this VM lifecycle to leave have_run_cpus CPU-mask allocations unreleased and potentially exhaust host memory.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/12c1f6e03f944e399bd2c88441dca5dc702b95a5
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6aef7cf800098749ff5d660222efaf6e01e98c09
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9784e5ca91b37b387f3f414af4340c54f7a63566

• Memory leak in Linux kernel kvm svm
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more