Look up another CVE · open CVE-2026-72179 in the interactive tracker
CVE-2026-72179
riscv: cacheinfo: Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves
Published 2026-08-15 (2 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem arch/riscv. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-72179 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | fixed | 6.1.180-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.1.180-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.100-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.100-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.1.5-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.1.5-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
Currently, the while loop drops the reference to prev in each iteration. If the loop terminates early due to a break, the final of_node_put(np) correctly drops the reference to the current node. However, if the loop terminates naturally because np == NULL, calling of_node_put(np) is a no-op. This leaves the last valid node stored in prev without its reference dropped, resulting in a node reference leak. Fix this by changing the final `of_node_put(np)` to `of_node_put(prev)`.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c
- What this is
- RISC-V ARCHITECTUREMAINTAINERS section matched on arch/riscv/ · linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org · Supported
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this code. Every release below compiles the affected file into the kernels it ships.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sidy
- y
- built into the kernel image on every flavour - only a patch removes it
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-08-15 (2 months ago)source
- CVSS
- no vector published, unrated
- Attack vector
- not published
- EPSS
- 0.21%, higher than 11.0% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- arch/riscv
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | 6.1.178 | 2560c97f63bb |
| 5.0 | 6.6.145 | 51afb7da697b |
| 5.0 | 6.12.97 | 880ac50b0bfa |
| 5.0 | 6.18.40 | f322955d9a1c |
| 5.0 | 7.1.5 | 36e4843fe39e |
| 5.0 | 7.2 | bf4a195f063b |
Why the CNA scored it this way
The kernel CNA published no CVSS vector and no reasoning for CVE-2026-72179, which is why it is shown as unrated rather than given an invented score. 6,405 of the 20,413 CVEs here carry reasoning; this is not one of them.