Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1 zoned do_zone_finish 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.
7.8	$0-$5k	0.17+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1. Impacted is the function do_zone_finish of the component zoned. Performing a manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98081. The attack needs to be approached locally. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1. This affects the function do_zone_finish of the component zoned. 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. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: btrfs: zoned: finish active block group cleanup if call_zone_finish() fails do_zone_finish() clears BLOCK_GROUP_FLAG_ZONE_IS_ACTIVE before finishing the zones. If call_zone_finish() then fails it returned early, leaving the now inactive block group on fs_info->zone_active_bgs, leaking its reference, the BTRFS_FS_NEED_ZONE_FINISH waiters are never woken, and as its alloc_offset equals the zone capacity btrfs_zone_finish_one_bg() keeps selecting it, spinning btrfs_zoned_activate_one_bg(). Fall through to the cleanup on failure too and return the error, but keep the block group read-only as its zones are left inconsistent.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98081 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. Attacking locally is a requirement. Additional levels of successful authentication are necessary for 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 09/25/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7 or 7.3-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 36b9cdab44848f25879ca625275c92b007f84653/40370f02a1ca3760f8925ffcbe76eb4d91ea758d/e1b168a53174b385e3548bfbd079513b22ac240c/a18a6b93a2843b9d103d3456bbd4b3f90282a379 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

• 6.12.110
• 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
• 6.18.52
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.3-rc1

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 8.2
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.8

VulDB Base Score: 8.2
VulDB Temp Score: 7.8
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

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

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

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

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.12.111/6.18.53/7.2.7/7.3-rc2
Patch: 36b9cdab44848f25879ca625275c92b007f84653/40370f02a1ca3760f8925ffcbe76eb4d91ea758d/e1b168a53174b385e3548bfbd079513b22ac240c/a18a6b93a2843b9d103d3456bbd4b3f90282a379

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 Advisory disclosed
09/25/2026 +0 days CVE reserved
09/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
09/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98081 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98081
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-410283

Entryinfo

Created: 09/25/2026 16:25
Changes: 09/25/2026 16:25 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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

Discussion

Want to know what is going to be exploited?

We predict KEV entries!