Medium [CVE-2026-72179] Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-72179.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: cacheinfo: Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves 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)`. A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's handling of cache information.
This vulnerability occurs when the system fails to properly release memory references during certain operations. This oversight results in a memory leak, which can lead to resource exhaustion and potentially impact system stability.
Red Hat severity: Moderate — 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.
Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 as not affected.
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 24 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 24 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 24 days ago·verify at source
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