CVE-2026-72179 riscv: cacheinfo: Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves
A reference leak in the RISC-V cacheinfo driver can lead to memory exhaustion and denial of service.
- 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-2026-72179?
CVE-2026-72179 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:
riscv: cacheinfo: Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves
Currently, the while loop drops the reference to prev in each iteration. If the loop terminates early due to a break, the final of_node_put(np) correctly drops the reference to the current node.
However, if the loop terminates naturally because np == NULL, calling of_node_put(np) is a no-op. This leaves the last valid node stored in prev without its reference dropped, resulting in a node reference leak.
Fix this by changing the final `of_node_put(np)` to `of_node_put(prev)`.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72179?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72179?
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-2026-72179 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72179 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72179, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72179, GHSA-hgqm-wjmp-79vj, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72179.