CVE-2026-98777

What the bug is

When a TF_UPDATE_TXN transaction supersedes a pending async transaction in a frozen process, the outdated transaction is freed with kfree() directly. This skips binder_free_txn_fixups(), leaking all binder_txn_fd_fixup entries and their fget()'d struct file references. The leaked file refcounts never reach zero, so the struct file objects are permanently pinned in memory. They survive process exit and accumulate across invocations until file-max exhaustion. Every other transaction cleanup path (binder_free_transaction(), binder_transaction() error paths, binder_release_work()) correctly calls binder_free_txn_fixups(). Add the missing call before kfree() in the t_outdated cleanup block.

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.

drivers/android/binder.c

What this is

ANDROID DRIVERSMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/android/ · linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org · Supported

Kernel module

binder

Check it on the machine

grep -w CONFIG_ANDROID_BINDER_IPC /boot/config-$(uname -r)

Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.

lsmod | grep -w binder

Prints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.

Show whether Debian builds this, per release

Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.

• bookwormMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, i386/686, i386/686-pae, i386/rt/686-pae, ppc64el/powerpc64le
• trixieMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, armel/rpi, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, riscv64/riscv64, s390x/s390x
• forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, loong64/loong64, ppc64el/powerpc64le, ppc64el/powerpc64le-64k, riscv64/riscv64, s390x/s390x

M

a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it

Build switch

CONFIG_ANDROID_BINDER_IPC

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 kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages

Signals

Published

2026-10-18 (today)source

CVSS

no vector published, unrated

Attack vector

not published

EPSS

not scored

CISA KEV

not listedthe KEV catalogue

Debian urgency

not yet assignedsource

Subsystem

drivers/android

Upstream fixes

The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source

Introduced	Fixed in	Commit
6.0	6.12.113	7fd609fb0e9d
6.0	6.18.56	1299cb3fb061
6.0	7.2.10	6673f4f21e2f
6.0	7.3	c4c02084d668