CVE-2026-31639 rxrpc: Fix key reference count leak from call->key

What is CVE-2026-31639?

CVE-2026-31639 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

rxrpc: Fix key reference count leak from call->key

When creating a client call in rxrpc_alloc_client_call(), the code obtains a reference to the key. This is never cleaned up and gets leaked when the call is destroyed.

Fix this by freeing call->key in rxrpc_destroy_call().

Before the patch, it shows the key reference counter elevated:

$ cat /proc/keys | grep afs@54321 1bffe9cd I--Q--i 8053480 4169w 3b010000 1000 1000 rxrpc afs@54321: ka $

After the patch, the invalidated key is removed when the code exits:

$ cat /proc/keys | grep afs@54321 $

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31639?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-31639?

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-2026-31639 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31639 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 AZL-83816, BELL-CVE-2026-31639, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31639, GHSA-4xm4-6p23-gp97, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-31639, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31639.