CVE-2026-97979 ice: add missing xa_destroy for sched_node_ids
A memory leak in the Linux kernel ice driver can lead to resource 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-2026-97979?
CVE-2026-97979 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 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:
ice: add missing xa_destroy for sched_node_ids
Commit 16dfa49406bc ("ice: Introduce new parameters in ice_sched_node") added a sched_node_ids xarray to the port info structure, but never called xa_destroy on it.
Since xarrays can allocate internal memory, this can result in a memory leak even if every element in the xarray has been removed.
The xarray is currently embedded in the port_info structure. This appears to have been done because its use is within functions that take the port_info as a primary argument.
However, this complicates managing the lifecycle of the field. The port_info structure is allocated in ice_init_hw() using devm, and it is not released until the devm cleanup when the driver is unloaded.
The ice_init_hw() function is called in many places, including devlink reload, and possibly during DDP load after updating the Tx scheduler layout.
Adding a call of xa_destroy to the ice_deinit_hw() causes Sashiko to raise multiple concerns due to potential ordering issues and possible ways that port_info could be a dangling reference.
To handle this, move the sched_node_ids out of port_info and into the hw structure. All users of the array already have a pointer to hw anyways, and there is only one sched_node_ids per adapter. While here, remove the overly verbose comment explaining the nature of the sched_node_ids xarray.
Add the missing xa_destroy to the cleanup path and to ice_deinit_hw(), ensuring that we properly release the xarray memory.
This was caught by Sashiko during development of unrelated code.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97979?
How do I fix CVE-2026-97979?
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-2026-97979 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97979 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-104730, BELL-CVE-2026-97979, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97979, GHSA-f354-573p-458p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97979.