CVE-2026-23142 mm/damon/sysfs-scheme: cleanup access_pattern subdirs on scheme dir setup failure
A memory leak in the Linux kernel DAMON sysfs interface can cause denial of service by breaking the interface until reboot.
- 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-2026-23142?
CVE-2026-23142 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:
mm/damon/sysfs-scheme: cleanup access_pattern subdirs on scheme dir setup failure
When a DAMOS-scheme DAMON sysfs directory setup fails after setup of access_pattern/ directory, subdirectories of access_pattern/ directory are not cleaned up. As a result, DAMON sysfs interface is nearly broken until the system reboots, and the memory for the unremoved directory is leaked.
Cleanup the directories under such failures.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23142?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23142?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-23142 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23142 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23142, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23142, GHSA-p59g-r9hh-rmr8, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23142, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23142.