Medium [CVE-2026-53261] Release nested relation on devlink free
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-53261 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat package: kernel-rt.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: devlink: Release nested relation on devlink free devlink relation state is normally released from devl_unregister(), which calls devlink_rel_put(). This misses devlink instances that get a nested relation before registration and then fail probe before devl_register() is reached.
That flow can happen for SFs. The child devlink gets linked to its parent before registration, then a later probe error calls devlink_free() directly.
Since the instance was never registered, devl_unregister() is not called and devlink->rel is leaked. Release any pending relation from devlink_free() as well.
The registered path is unchanged because devl_unregister() already clears devlink->rel before devlink_free() runs. This issue occurs when a devlink instance acquires a nested relation but fails to register, leading to a resource leak.
This can result in system instability or a denial of service (DoS) over time due to resource exhaustion. Red Hat severity: Low — CVSS 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-772. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: kernel-rt.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
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