Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3 auth_gss.c gss_put_auth memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3. This issue affects the function gss_put_auth of the file auth_gss.c. Such manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-45964. There is no exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.19.3. Affected by this issue is the function gss_put_auth of the file auth_gss.c. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory leak vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-401. The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, which slowly consumes remaining memory. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: SUNRPC: fix gss_auth kref leak in gss_alloc_msg error path Commit 5940d1cf9f42 ("SUNRPC: Rebalance a kref in auth_gss.c") added a kref_get(&gss_auth->kref) call to balance the gss_put_auth() done in gss_release_msg(), but forgot to add a corresponding kref_put() on the error path when kstrdup_const() fails. If service_name is non-NULL and kstrdup_const() fails, the function jumps to err_put_pipe_version which calls put_pipe_version() and kfree(gss_msg), but never releases the gss_auth reference. This leads to a kref leak where the gss_auth structure is never freed. Add a forward declaration for gss_free_callback() and call kref_put() in the err_put_pipe_version error path to properly release the reference taken earlier.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-45964 since 05/13/2026. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit.

Upgrading to version 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165, 6.6.128, 6.12.75, 6.18.14 or 6.19.4 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 3b2b6c42070ce4204936288253baf101e995c2d3/b559be2ec6cdb2e9c2c36c23fbbd4690d8a5c3f7/a1bc9561b617ec7e2d09e6c134d1db8fcf9ca4a6/655c9ba9915f05266998dbbf4b76b3c79b8a70aa/e464e26b2457005c87e158570498274b9f3b90c7/c20f925214249bb4fc04f7e197bea142a6438af6/a2d4e9a76de0b2178001214ba5de5bf94a7354aa/dd2fdc3504592d85e549c523b054898a036a6afe 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.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.251
• 5.15.201
• 6.1.164
• 6.6.127
• 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
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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