CVE-2026-97616
Received
Received - Intake
Memory Leak in Linux Kernel Traffic Control Action API
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-97616, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-09-25
Last updated on: 2026-09-25
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: act_api: release all action references on NEWACTION failure
When a batched RTM_NEWACTION request replaces an existing action,
tcf_idr_check_alloc() takes a temporary reference on it. If a later
action fails to initialize, tcf_action_destroy() uses strict release
semantics to clean up the actions initialized so far. For an action
bound to a filter, the strict check returns -EPERM without dropping
the temporary reference.
This error also makes tcf_action_destroy() return before releasing
subsequent entries. Any new action initialized between the bound
action and the failing entry is leaked together with its reserved
IDR slot, preventing reuse of its index.
Use tcf_idr_release() to drop each reference held by the batch without
rejecting bound actions. This allows cleanup to continue through all
initialized entries and preserves the module reference release when
an action is destroyed. Explicit action deletion and flushing retain
their separate bind-count checks.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | * |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
