CVE-2026-22979 net: fix memory leak in skb_segment_list for GRO packets
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's network stack allows attackers to exhaust system memory via GRO packet forwarding, causing denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-22979?
CVE-2026-22979 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 23 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: fix memory leak in skb_segment_list for GRO packets
When skb_segment_list() is called during packet forwarding, it handles packets that were aggregated by the GRO engine.
Historically, the segmentation logic in skb_segment_list assumes that individual segments are split from a parent SKB and may need to carry their own socket memory accounting. Accordingly, the code transfers truesize from the parent to the newly created segments.
Prior to commit ed4cccef64c1 ("gro: fix ownership transfer"), this truesize subtraction in skb_segment_list() was valid because fragments still carry a reference to the original socket.
However, commit ed4cccef64c1 ("gro: fix ownership transfer") changed this behavior by ensuring that fraglist entries are explicitly orphaned (skb->sk = NULL) to prevent illegal orphaning later in the stack. This change meant that the entire socket memory charge remained with the head SKB, but the corresponding accounting logic in skb_segment_list() was never updated.
As a result, the current code unconditionally adds each fragment's truesize to delta_truesize and subtracts it from the parent SKB. Since the fragments are no longer charged to the socket, this subtraction results in an effective under-count of memory when the head is freed. This causes sk_wmem_alloc to remain non-zero, preventing socket destruction and leading to a persistent memory leak.
The leak can be observed via KMEMLEAK when tearing down the networking environment:
unreferenced object 0xffff8881e6eb9100 (size 2048): comm "ping", pid 6720, jiffies 4295492526 backtrace: kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x5c6/0x800 sk_prot_alloc+0x5b/0x220 sk_alloc+0x35/0xa00 inet6_create.part.0+0x303/0x10d0 __sock_create+0x248/0x640 __sys_socket+0x11b/0x1d0
Since skb_segment_list() is exclusively used for SKB_GSO_FRAGLIST packets constructed by GRO, the truesize adjustment is removed.
The call to skb_release_head_state() must be preserved. As documented in commit cf673ed0e057 ("net: fix fraglist segmentation reference count leak"), it is still required to correctly drop references to SKB extensions that may be overwritten during __copy_skb_header().
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-22979?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-22979?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-22979 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-22979 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-78455, BELL-CVE-2026-22979, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22979, GHSA-w4ch-7p82-3m56, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-22979, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-22979 and 3 more.