# CVE-2026-64180: mm/memory_hotplug: fix memory block reference leak on remove

> A reference leak in the Linux kernel memory hotplug subsystem can lead to resource exhaustion and 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:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-64180, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64180, GHSA-8rwj-765p-2628, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64180

## What is CVE-2026-64180?

CVE-2026-64180 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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/memory_hotplug: fix memory block reference leak on remove

Patch series "mm: Fix memory block leaks and locking", v2.

This series fixes two memory block device reference leaks and one locking
issue around the per-memory_block hwpoison counter.

This patch (of 2):

remove_memory_blocks_and_altmaps() looks up each memory block with
find_memory_block(), which acquires a reference to the memory block
device.

That reference is never dropped on this path, resulting in a leaked device
reference when removing memory blocks and their altmaps.  Drop the
reference after retrieving mem->altmap and clearing mem->altmap, before
removing the memory block device.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64180?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64180?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64180 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64180 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-2026-64180 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64180 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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-2026-64180 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-2026-64180/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64180/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64180
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64180
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64180

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64180/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.