CVE-2026-23021 net: usb: pegasus: fix memory leak in update_eth_regs_async()
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Pegasus USB Ethernet driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service by triggering failed USB submissions.
- 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-2026-23021?
CVE-2026-23021 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 31 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: usb: pegasus: fix memory leak in update_eth_regs_async()
When asynchronously writing to the device registers and if usb_submit_urb() fail, the code fail to release allocated to this point resources.
Weakness: CWE-401
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23021?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23021?
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-2026-23021 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23021 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23021, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23021, GHSA-r287-6h24-3pjx, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23021, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23021, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23021 and 3 more.