CVE-2026-97440 net: qrtr: fix node refcount leak on ctrl packet alloc failure
A refcount leak in the Linux kernel QRTR subsystem can cause memory exhaustion and denial of service when control packet allocation fails.
- 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-2026-97440?
CVE-2026-97440 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 24 Sep 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: qrtr: fix node refcount leak on ctrl packet alloc failure
qrtr_send_resume_tx() calls qrtr_node_lookup() which takes a reference on the returned node. If the subsequent call to qrtr_alloc_ctrl_packet() fails due to memory allocation failure, the function returns -ENOMEM without calling qrtr_node_release() to release the node reference.
Add qrtr_node_release(node) before returning on the allocation failure path to properly release the reference.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97440?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97440?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-97440 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97440 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-103736, BELL-CVE-2026-97440, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97440, GHSA-x3xx-p253-pwh4, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97440.