Linux Kernel up to 6.6.121/6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5 null_blk memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.121/6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5. It has been rated as critical. Impacted is the function null_blk. Performing a manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-23032. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.121/6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5. This affects the function null_blk. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. This is going to have an impact on availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: null_blk: fix kmemleak by releasing references to fault configfs items When CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NULL_BLK_FAULT_INJECTION is enabled, the null-blk driver sets up fault injection support by creating the timeout_inject, requeue_inject, and init_hctx_fault_inject configfs items as children of the top-level nullbX configfs group. However, when the nullbX device is removed, the references taken to these fault-config configfs items are not released. As a result, kmemleak reports a memory leak, for example: unreferenced object 0xc00000021ff25c40 (size 32): comm "mkdir", pid 10665, jiffies 4322121578 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 69 6e 69 74 5f 68 63 74 78 5f 66 61 75 6c 74 5f init_hctx_fault_ 69 6e 6a 65 63 74 00 88 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 inject.......... backtrace (crc 1a018c86): __kmalloc_node_track_caller_noprof+0x494/0xbd8 kvasprintf+0x74/0xf4 config_item_set_name+0xf0/0x104 config_group_init_type_name+0x48/0xfc fault_config_init+0x48/0xf0 0xc0080000180559e4 configfs_mkdir+0x304/0x814 vfs_mkdir+0x49c/0x604 do_mkdirat+0x314/0x3d0 sys_mkdir+0xa0/0xd8 system_call_exception+0x1b0/0x4f0 system_call_vectored_common+0x15c/0x2ec Fix this by explicitly releasing the references to the fault-config configfs items when dropping the reference to the top-level nullbX configfs group.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-23032 since 01/13/2026. The exploitability is told to be difficult. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 297454 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23032), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.6.122, 6.12.67, 6.18.7 or 6.19-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 1a3286edf4d48ce37f8982ff3c3b65159a5ecbb2/d59ba448ccd595d5d65e197216cf781a87db2b28/f1718da051282698aa8fa150bebb9724f6389fda/40b94ec7edbbb867c4e26a1a43d2b898f04b93c5 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (297454), EUVD (EUVD-2026-5062) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0280). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.121
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.19-rc1
• 6.19-rc2
• 6.19-rc3
• 6.19-rc4
• 6.19-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

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