# CVE-2026-31653: mm/damon/sysfs: dealloc repeat_call_control if damon_call() fails

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel DAMON sysfs interface can lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service if damon_call fails.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-31653, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-31653, GHSA-pqj5-xfrj-pv58, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-31653

## What is CVE-2026-31653?

CVE-2026-31653 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:

mm/damon/sysfs: dealloc repeat_call_control if damon_call() fails

damon_call() for repeat_call_control of DAMON_SYSFS could fail if somehow
the kdamond is stopped before the damon_call().  It could happen, for
example, when te damon context was made for monitroing of a virtual
address processes, and the process is terminated immediately, before the
damon_call() invocation.  In the case, the dyanmically allocated
repeat_call_control is not deallocated and leaked.

Fix the leak by deallocating the repeat_call_control under the
damon_call() failure.

This issue is discovered by sashiko [1].

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-31653?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-31653?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-31653 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31653 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-2026-31653 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-31653 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-31653 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-2026-31653/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31653/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31653
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31653
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-31653

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31653/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.