# CVE-2026-31610: ksmbd: fix mechToken leak when SPNEGO decode fails after token alloc

> Unauthenticated attackers can cause memory leaks in the Linux kernel ksmbd module via malformed SPNEGO tokens, leading to potential 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:** 24 Apr 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-83732, BELL-CVE-2026-31610, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31610, GHSA-g5hw-v48q-45pv, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-31610, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-31610, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-31610, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31610

## What is CVE-2026-31610?

CVE-2026-31610 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Apr 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:

ksmbd: fix mechToken leak when SPNEGO decode fails after token alloc

The kernel ASN.1 BER decoder calls action callbacks incrementally as it
walks the input.  When ksmbd_decode_negTokenInit() reaches the mechToken
[2] OCTET STRING element, ksmbd_neg_token_alloc() allocates
conn->mechToken immediately via kmemdup_nul().  If a later element in
the same blob is malformed, then the decoder will return nonzero after
the allocation is already live.  This could happen if mechListMIC [3]
overrunse the enclosing SEQUENCE.

decode_negotiation_token() then sets conn->use_spnego = false because
both the negTokenInit and negTokenTarg grammars failed.  The cleanup at
the bottom of smb2_sess_setup() is gated on use_spnego:

	if (conn->use_spnego && conn->mechToken) {
		kfree(conn->mechToken);
		conn->mechToken = NULL;
	}

so the kfree is skipped, causing the mechToken to never be freed.

This codepath is reachable pre-authentication, so untrusted clients can
cause slow memory leaks on a server without even being properly
authenticated.

Fix this up by not checking check for use_spnego, as it's not required,
so the memory will always be properly freed.  At the same time, always
free the memory in ksmbd_conn_free() incase some other failure path
forgot to free it.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31610?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-31610?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-31610 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31610 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-2026-31610 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-31610 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Apr 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-2026-31610 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-2026-31610/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31610/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31610
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31610
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-31610

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31610/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.