CVE-2026-98486 net: ena: fix MMIO read buffer leak on probe failure
A memory leak in the Linux kernel ENA network driver during probe failure 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-2026-98486?
CVE-2026-98486 is a memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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: ena: fix MMIO read buffer leak on probe failure
ena_device_init() initializes the MMIO read mechanism with ena_com_mmio_reg_read_request_init(), which allocates a coherent DMA buffer for MMIO read responses.
The normal removal path releases this buffer through ena_com_mmio_reg_read_request_destroy(). However, if ena_probe() fails after ena_device_init() succeeds, the error path destroys the admin resources and eventually frees ena_dev without destroying the MMIO read request, leaving the coherent DMA buffer allocated.
Call ena_com_mmio_reg_read_request_destroy() in the probe error path before releasing the remaining device resources.
This issue was found by manual code inspection.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98486?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98486?
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-2026-98486 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98486 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-109442, BELL-CVE-2026-98486, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98486, GHSA-vj8m-9pww-pf2j, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98486.