CVE-2026-31440
Received Received - Intake
Memory Leak in Linux Kernel dmaengine idxd Driver on Device Removal

Publication date: 2026-04-22

Last updated on: 2026-05-17

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dmaengine: idxd: Fix leaking event log memory During the device remove process, the device is reset, causing the configuration registers to go back to their default state, which is zero. As the driver is checking if the event log support was enabled before deallocating, it will fail if a reset happened before. Do not check if the support was enabled, the check for 'idxd->evl' being valid (only allocated if the HW capability is available) is enough.
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Meta Information
Published
2026-04-22
Last Modified
2026-05-17
Generated
2026-06-16
AI Q&A
2026-04-22
EPSS Evaluated
2026-06-14
NVD
CVE-2026-31440
EUVD
EUVD-2026-24768
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 8 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel 7.0
linux linux_kernel From 6.13 (inc) to 6.18.21 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.19 (inc) to 6.19.11 (exc)
linux linux_kernel From 6.4 (inc) to 6.12.80 (exc)
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-401 The product does not sufficiently track and release allocated memory after it has been used, making the memory unavailable for reallocation and reuse.
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Executive Summary

This vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's dmaengine idxd driver. During the device removal process, the device is reset, which causes its configuration registers to revert to their default zero state. The driver attempts to check if event log support was enabled before deallocating memory related to the event log. However, if a reset occurred before this check, the verification fails, leading to a memory leak of the event log.

The fix involves removing the check for whether event log support was enabled and instead only verifying if the event log pointer is valid, which is sufficient because it is only allocated if the hardware capability exists.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can lead to a memory leak in the Linux kernel's dmaengine idxd driver during device removal. Over time, this memory leak could cause increased memory usage, potentially leading to system instability or degraded performance.

Mitigation Strategies

The vulnerability has been resolved in the Linux kernel by fixing the dmaengine idxd driver to avoid leaking event log memory during device removal.

To mitigate this vulnerability, you should update your Linux kernel to a version that includes this fix.

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