Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10 spectrum_flower mlxsw_sp_flower_tmplt_create 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.
6.0	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10. This affects the function mlxsw_sp_flower_tmplt_create of the component spectrum_flower. Performing a manipulation results in memory leak. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98948. The attack may be initiated remotely. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.159/6.12.112/6.18.56/7.2.10. This affects the function mlxsw_sp_flower_tmplt_create of the component spectrum_flower. 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: mlxsw: spectrum_flower: Fix port range register leak in tmplt_create() mlxsw_sp_flower_tmplt_create() parses a flow_cls_offload template into a stack-local struct mlxsw_sp_acl_rule_info purely to compute rulei.values.elusage. Parsing can acquire port range registers via mlxsw_sp_flower_parse_ports_range(), but since this rulei never goes through mlxsw_sp_acl_rulei_destroy(), those registers were never released, including through chain template deletion. Factor out of mlxsw_sp_acl_rulei_destroy() the code to actually release the necessary resources and call from mlxsw_sp_flower_tmplt_create() to plug the leak. The issue was found during a review of Wentao Liang's patch referenced below.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98948 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. 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 10/23/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 6.6.160, 6.12.113, 6.18.57 or 7.2.11 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 41ad5bcf0219aaebf8ffb052c5e8177479330cde/c8e934287debb29c6ded86b21e49fc72e186d15e/3938430f0237c59ca08d6a366e7657b2b7f8d0bb/4eaf1285b5c1e42f80e47f9fe0d391e70418db02/7ea07afb230f1342ab0f9365edd0aae137f425d3 is able to eliminate this problem. 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

• 6.6.159
• 6.12.112
• 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
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 6.18.56
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.2.10

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: 6.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 6.0

VulDB Base Score: 6.3
VulDB Temp Score: 6.0
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: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

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 6.6.160/6.12.113/6.18.57/7.2.11
Patch: 41ad5bcf0219aaebf8ffb052c5e8177479330cde/c8e934287debb29c6ded86b21e49fc72e186d15e/3938430f0237c59ca08d6a366e7657b2b7f8d0bb/4eaf1285b5c1e42f80e47f9fe0d391e70418db02/7ea07afb230f1342ab0f9365edd0aae137f425d3

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/23/2026 +28 days Advisory disclosed
10/23/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/23/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98948 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98948
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-425763

Entryinfo

Created: 10/23/2026 14:59
Changes: 10/23/2026 14:59 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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