CVE-2026-72406 net: sungem: fix probe error cleanup
A double-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's sungem network driver during probe error handling can cause a system crash.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-72406?
CVE-2026-72406 is a high-severity 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: sungem: fix probe error cleanup
gem_init_one() calls gem_remove_one() when register_netdev() fails. gem_remove_one() unregisters and frees resources owned by the net_device, including the DMA block, MMIO mapping, PCI regions, and the net_device itself. gem_init_one() then falls through to its own cleanup labels and frees the same resources again.
Keep the register_netdev() error path in gem_init_one(): clear drvdata so PM/remove paths do not see a half-registered device, remove the NAPI instance added during probe, and let the existing cleanup labels release the resources once.
The issue was found by a local static-analysis checker for probe error paths. The reported path was manually inspected before sending this fix.
Compile-tested with CONFIG_SUNGEM=y. Runtime testing was not performed because no sungem hardware is available.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72406?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72406?
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-2026-72406 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72406 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72406, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72406, GHSA-hmg3-fx9r-3v68, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72406.