Medium 5.5Published May 6, 2026

CVE-2026-43090xfrm: fix refcount leak in xfrm_migrate_policy_find

Updated under an hour ago (Oct 27, 2026, 6:10 PM ET)

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Exploited in the last 30 days

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: fix refcount leak in xfrm_migrate_policy_find syzkaller reported a memory leak in xfrm_policy_alloc: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff888114d79000 (size 1024): comm "syz.1.17", pid 931 ... xfrm_policy_alloc+0xb3/0x4b0 net/xfrm/xfrm_policy.c:432 The root cause is a double call to xfrm_pol_hold_rcu() in xfrm_migrate_policy_find(). The lookup function already returns a policy with held reference, making the second call redundant. Remove the redundant xfrm_pol_hold_rcu() call to fix the refcount imbalance and prevent the memory leak. Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

CVSS: 5.5 MEDIUM (v3.1, NVD)CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness (CWE): Not given
Known exploited: Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days): Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by: Linux
NVD analysis: Analyzed
Record last updated: May 11, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals: Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products

Linux Linux linux:linux (from the name)	563d5ca93e883b9dcb4b7dc8967ac569fd91820d builds before 21e235a36cfb6d145cefb10728f12f5dc5412f54; from 563d5ca93e883b9dcb4b7dc8967ac569fd91820d before 836ee1b0426ea3db31531e9581cc32f513d24e32; 563d5ca93e883b9dcb4b7dc8967ac569fd91820d builds before 70c2a89a3bc207c3bfbf6f21bb439809e0a4a27a; from 563d5ca93e883b9dcb4b7dc8967ac569fd91820d before 83317cce60a032c49480dcdabe146435bd689d03	CNA record
linux linux_kernel linux:linux_kernel	from 6.12 before 6.12.83; from 6.13 before 6.18.24; from 6.19 before 6.19.14; 7.0; 7.0; 7.0; 7.0; 7.0; and 2 more ranges	NVD

References

References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/21e235a36cfb6d145cefb10728f12f5dc5412f54	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/836ee1b0426ea3db31531e9581cc32f513d24e32	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/70c2a89a3bc207c3bfbf6f21bb439809e0a4a27a	patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/83317cce60a032c49480dcdabe146435bd689d03	patch

The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.