# CVE-2026-72311: drm/xe: free madvise VMA array on L2 flush failure

> A memory leak in the Linux kernel's Xe GPU driver allows local attackers to exhaust system memory via repeated failed ioctl calls, causing denial of service.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 17 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72311, GHSA-69mf-3x6r-xpp9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72311

## What is CVE-2026-72311?

CVE-2026-72311 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:

drm/xe: free madvise VMA array on L2 flush failure

xe_vm_madvise_ioctl() allocates madvise_range.vmas in get_vmas().
After get_vmas() succeeds with at least one VMA, error paths must go
through free_vmas so the array is released before the madvise details are
destroyed.

The L2 flush validation path added for PAT madvise rejects some
SVM/userptr ranges after get_vmas() has succeeded, but jumps directly to
madv_fini. This skips kfree(madvise_range.vmas), leaking the VMA array on
each failed ioctl.

Jump to free_vmas instead, matching the other validation failure paths
after get_vmas() has succeeded.

(cherry picked from commit c3a1c3579b1250060da73507a4acef712974c78a)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72311?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-72311?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-72311 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72311 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72311 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72311 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72311 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. 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-2026-72311/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72311/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72311
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72311
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72311

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72311/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.