Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98486

Vulnerability identifier: #VU156786

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 1.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98486

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to potentially exhaust kernel memory and cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to a memory leak in the Linux kernel ENA driver's ena_probe() error path when device probing fails after ena_device_init() succeeds. A local privileged user can potentially trigger repeated probe failures to leave coherent DMA buffers allocated, exhausting kernel memory and potentially causing a denial of service.

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/30ff01b4c7e419bb70f40f01dcd7f6af680808b3
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/47785f9f638b064ce6e32e8e3b6f1ffd83849fc2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7bd3e9a2d0c288e54f51df260d9433163f5fbc1e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9476b4468862927297c94c440863cd8ed1e7cc83
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a0f5fd7a285f44fa402242f26feddfe1d4a0fc6c

• Memory leak in Linux kernel amazon ena driver
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more