CVE-2026-23137 of: unittest: Fix memory leak in unittest_data_add()

What is CVE-2026-23137?

CVE-2026-23137 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 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:

of: unittest: Fix memory leak in unittest_data_add()

In unittest_data_add(), if of_resolve_phandles() fails, the allocated unittest_data is not freed, leading to a memory leak.

Fix this by using scope-based cleanup helper __free(kfree) for automatic resource cleanup. This ensures unittest_data is automatically freed when it goes out of scope in error paths.

For the success path, use retain_and_null_ptr() to transfer ownership of the memory to the device tree and prevent double freeing.

Weakness: CWE-401

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23137?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23137?

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-2026-23137 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23137 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23137, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23137, GHSA-rwc9-h9mh-xfwq, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23137, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23137, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23137 and 3 more.