CVE-2026-72223 nvdimm/btt: Free arena sub-allocations on discover_arenas() error path
A memory leak in the Linux kernel's NVDIMM BTT driver allows local attackers to cause denial of service by triggering error paths in arena discovery.
- 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-2026-72223?
CVE-2026-72223 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:
nvdimm/btt: Free arena sub-allocations on discover_arenas() error path
Memory allocated by btt_freelist_init(), btt_rtt_init(), and btt_maplocks_init() is not freed on some discover_arenas() error paths. This leaks memory when arena discovery fails.
Add the missing kfree() calls to release the allocations before returning an error.
[ as: commit message and log edits ]
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72223?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72223?
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-2026-72223 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72223 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72223, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72223, GHSA-pj7h-9r7j-559q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72223.