Linux Kernel drm/xe xe_vm_madvise_ioctl memory leak

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel. Affected by this vulnerability is the function xe_vm_madvise_ioctl of the component drm/xe. The manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-72311. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Linux Kernel (affected version unknown). Affected is the function xe_vm_madvise_ioctl of the component drm/xe. 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 confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm/xe: free madvise VMA array on L2 flush failure xe_vm_madvise_ioctl() allocates madvise_range.vmas in get_vmas(). After get_vmas() succeeds with at least one VMA, error paths must go through free_vmas so the array is released before the madvise details are destroyed. The L2 flush validation path added for PAT madvise rejects some SVM/userptr ranges after get_vmas() has succeeded, but jumps directly to madv_fini. This skips kfree(madvise_range.vmas), leaking the VMA array on each failed ioctl. Jump to free_vmas instead, matching the other validation failure paths after get_vmas() has succeeded. (cherry picked from commit c3a1c3579b1250060da73507a4acef712974c78a)

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-72311 since 08/09/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026). The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1499.

Applying the patch c3a1c3579b1250060da73507a4acef712974c78a/bf126747e7bff55e5ba0b1ec10fc5fce99feaed9 is able to eliminate this problem.

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Discussion