# CVE-2026-23144: mm/damon/sysfs: cleanup attrs subdirs on context dir setup failure

> A failure in DAMON sysfs directory setup causes resource leaks and breaks the interface, leading to denial of service until reboot.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-77685, BELL-CVE-2026-23144, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23144, GHSA-chwm-55mq-46m4, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23144, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23144

## What is CVE-2026-23144?

CVE-2026-23144 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:

mm/damon/sysfs: cleanup attrs subdirs on context dir setup failure

When a context DAMON sysfs directory setup is failed after setup of attrs/
directory, subdirectories of attrs/ 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.

Weakness: CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23144?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23144?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23144 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23144 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-23144 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23144 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23144 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23144/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23144/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23144
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23144
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23144

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23144/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.