# CVE-2026-23297: nfsd: Fix cred ref leak in nfsd_nl_threads_set_doit().

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel NFS server allows local attackers to exhaust kernel memory, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 25 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-23297, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23297, GHSA-pxcg-3rj5-5gx5, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23297, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23297

## What is CVE-2026-23297?

CVE-2026-23297 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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:

nfsd: Fix cred ref leak in nfsd_nl_threads_set_doit().

syzbot reported memory leak of struct cred. [0]

nfsd_nl_threads_set_doit() passes get_current_cred() to
nfsd_svc(), but put_cred() is not called after that.

The cred is finally passed down to _svc_xprt_create(),
which calls get_cred() with the cred for struct svc_xprt.

The ownership of the refcount by get_current_cred() is not
transferred to anywhere and is just leaked.

nfsd_svc() is also called from write_threads(), but it does
not bump file->f_cred there.

nfsd_nl_threads_set_doit() is called from sendmsg() and
current->cred does not go away.

Let's use current_cred() in nfsd_nl_threads_set_doit().

[0]:
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888108b89480 (size 184):
  comm "syz-executor", pid 5994, jiffies 4294943386
  hex dump (first 32 bytes):
    01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ................
  backtrace (crc 369454a7):
    kmemleak_alloc_recursive include/linux/kmemleak.h:44 [inline]
    slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4958 [inline]
    slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5263 [inline]
    kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x412/0x580 mm/slub.c:5270
    prepare_creds+0x22/0x600 kernel/cred.c:185
    copy_creds+0x44/0x290 kernel/cred.c:286
    copy_process+0x7a7/0x2870 kernel/fork.c:2086
    kernel_clone+0xac/0x6e0 kernel/fork.c:2651
    __do_sys_clone+0x7f/0xb0 kernel/fork.c:2792
    do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline]
    do_syscall_64+0xa4/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94
    entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23297?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23297?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23297 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23297 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-2026-23297 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23297 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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-2026-23297 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-2026-23297/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23297/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23297
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23297
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23297

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23297/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.