Linux Kernel up to 6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5 SMC Socket Release net/smc sk_common_release memory leak

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
7.2	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5. This impacts the function sk_common_release of the file net/smc of the component SMC Socket Release. The manipulation leads to memory leak. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-90065. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.109/6.18.51/7.2.5. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects the function sk_common_release of the file net/smc of the component SMC Socket Release. 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. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: release the internal TCP sock on IPPROTO_SMC socket creation failure IPPROTO_SMC sockets create an internal TCP sock ("clcsock") from the proto->init hook. When socket creation fails after proto->init has run - e.g. a cgroup BPF program attached to BPF_CGROUP_INET_SOCK_CREATE denies the socket - sk_common_release() only invokes sk_prot->destroy if it is set, but neither smc_inet_prot nor smc_inet6_prot defines it, and smc_destruct() returns early unless sk_state is SMC_CLOSED. As a result, every failing socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_SMC) call leaks one tcp_sock, so an unprivileged task able to attach a deny-all BPF_CGROUP_INET_SOCK_CREATE program to its own cgroup can grow kernel memory unboundedly. Add a .destroy hook to both protos that releases the clcsock via smc_clcsock_release(). smc_sk_init() hashes the sock into the smc hashinfo before the clcsock is created, and smc_diag dumps walk that hash dereferencing smc->clcsock without taking clcsock_release_lock, while sk_common_release() calls .destroy before .unhash. Unhash the sock before releasing the clcsock, as __smc_release() does, so a concurrent dump cannot observe the release; the second unhash in sk_common_release() is a no-op.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-90065 since 09/11/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/17/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 6.12.110, 6.18.52, 7.2.6 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2f4ece7fed6d915ec64b7735962c0d84d6261032/84180988a455fd8e147c6b35c8df65d8b8cc76c2/94a913cd521c0f0408820bcdbd80dadf076d97b5/cec261b0b4c5c0b044165303198d10ffcdf3414c is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.109
• 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
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.2

VulDB Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Temp Score: 7.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory leak
CWE: CWE-401 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1
Patch: 2f4ece7fed6d915ec64b7735962c0d84d6261032/84180988a455fd8e147c6b35c8df65d8b8cc76c2/94a913cd521c0f0408820bcdbd80dadf076d97b5/cec261b0b4c5c0b044165303198d10ffcdf3414c

Timelineinfo

09/11/2026 CVE reserved
09/17/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/17/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-90065 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-90065
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-406547

Entryinfo

Created: 09/17/2026 18:35
Changes: 09/17/2026 18:35 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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