CVE-2026-72058 net: ixp4xx_hss: fix duplicate HDLC netdev allocation
A memory management error in the ixp4xx_hss driver causes use-after-free or double-free conditions, potentially leading to system crashes or arbitrary code execution.
- 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-2026-72058?
CVE-2026-72058 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 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:
net: ixp4xx_hss: fix duplicate HDLC netdev allocation
ixp4xx_hss_probe() allocates two HDLC netdevs. The first one is stored in ndev, initialized, and registered with register_hdlc_device(). The second one is stored in port->netdev and later used by the remove path for unregister_hdlc_device() and free_netdev().
This means that the registered netdev is not the same object that is unregistered and freed on remove. It also leaks the first allocation if the second alloc_hdlcdev() call fails, and the first allocation is not checked before ndev is used.
Older code allocated the HDLC netdev only once and stored the same object in both the local variable and port->netdev. The buggy conversion split this into two alloc_hdlcdev() calls. A later rename changed the local variable name to ndev, but the underlying mismatch remained.
Fix this by allocating the HDLC netdev only once and assigning the same object to port->netdev.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72058?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72058?
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-2026-72058 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72058 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72058, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72058, GHSA-c9wj-7pm2-vx6f, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72058.