Medium [CVE-2026-64426] fix file reference leak with IOSQE_FIXED_FILE
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-64426 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: io_uring/nop: fix file reference leak with IOSQE_FIXED_FILE NOP file-acquisition support choses between a fixed (registered) file and a normal fget()'d file based on its own IORING_NOP_FIXED_FILE flag in sqe->nop_flags.
However, a request's REQ_F_FIXED_FILE is set independently from the generic IOSQE_FIXED_FILE sqe flag during request init, before the issue handler runs. If a NOP is submitted with IOSQE_FIXED_FILE set (so REQ_F_FIXED_FILE is set) but without IORING_NOP_FIXED_FILE, io_nop() takes the normal path and grabs a real reference via io_file_get_normal().
On completion, io_put_file() only drops the reference when REQ_F_FIXED_FILE is clear, so the fget()'d file is never released and leaks: BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88800f42c240 (size 176): kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x358/0x440 alloc_empty_file+0x57/0x180 path_openat+0x44/0x1e50 do_file_open+0x121/0x200 do_sys_openat2+0xa7/0x150 __x64_sys_openat+0x82/0xf0 Decide between fixed and normal file acquisition from REQ_F_FIXED_FILE, the same way io_assign_file() does for every other opcode, and fold IORING_NOP_FIXED_FILE into REQ_F_FIXED_FILE at prep time.
A local user could exploit this by submitting a specially crafted no-operation (NOP) request. This could lead to a file reference not being properly released, resulting in a memory leak.
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 1 month 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 1 month ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That does not mean no fix exists. Read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 1 month ago·verify at source
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