CVE-2026-68292 ice: prevent tstamp ring allocation for non-PF VSI types
A memory leak in the Linux kernel ice driver allows local attackers to cause denial of service by triggering PCI resets with ETF offload enabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-68292?
CVE-2026-68292 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 10 Aug 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:
ice: prevent tstamp ring allocation for non-PF VSI types
The pf->txtime_txqs bitmap tracks which Tx queues have ETF (Earliest TxTime First) offload enabled. This bitmap is indexed by queue number and is set by ice_offload_txtime(), which only operates on PF VSI queues.
However, ice_is_txtime_ena() does not check the VSI type before consulting the bitmap. When ETF offload is enabled on PF Tx queue 0, bit 0 is set in pf->txtime_txqs. During a subsequent PCI reset rebuild, the CTRL VSI's Tx queue 0 is reconfigured and ice_is_txtime_ena() is called for that ring. Since it only checks pf->txtime_txqs by queue index without distinguishing VSI type, it finds bit 0 set and returns true, matching the PF VSI's ETF queue, not the CTRL VSI's. This causes ice_vsi_cfg_txq() to spuriously allocate a tstamp_ring for the CTRL VSI ring.
Since CTRL VSI rings have no associated netdev, ice_clean_tx_ring() takes an early return at the !netdev check before reaching ice_free_tx_tstamp_ring(), leaking the allocation. Each PCI reset leaks one 64-byte tstamp_ring.
Fix this by restricting ice_is_txtime_ena() to return true only for PF VSI rings, since txtime_txqs is only meaningful for PF VSI queues.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-68292?
How do I fix CVE-2026-68292?
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-2026-68292 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-68292 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-68292, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-68292, GHSA-fph8-8r8j-jwfp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-68292.