Skip to content
VulniPulse
Advisory severityMedium5.5Vendor: LowRed Hat Linux

Medium [CVE-2026-72321] Fix potential memory leaks in igmp_mod_timer and igmp_stop_timer

This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-72321 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Aggregated and source-linked by VulniPulse. Data sources, validation and limitations.

CVE-2026-72321 Source published Source updated

VulniPulse record published Record updated

Affected products & platforms
Red Hat LinuxLinux Kernel
Open source advisory

Android app · Google Play

Monitor future Red Hat Linux CVEs from your phone.

Choose a whole vendor or a precise platform, then receive matching security advisories by phone notification, email, or both. Coverage follows 34 official vendor sources and 160+ reviewed platform categories.

Matching phone alertsOptional email delivery

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: igmp: Fix potential memory leaks in igmp_mod_timer() and igmp_stop_timer() When a timer is deleted and not re-armed in igmp_mod_timer(), or stopped in igmp_stop_timer(), the code currently decrements the reference counter of the multicast list entry @im using refcount_dec(&im->refcnt).

However, both functions can be called from the RCU reader path: - igmp_mod_timer() via igmp_heard_query() -> for_each_pmc_rcu() - igmp_stop_timer() via igmp_rcv() -> igmp_heard_report() If the group im was concurrently removed from the list by ip_mc_dec_group(), its reference count might have already been decremented to 1.

In this case, timer_delete() succeeds, and refcount_dec() decrements the refcount from 1 to 0. Since refcount_dec() does not free the object when it hits 0 (unlike ip_ma_put()), the im structure is leaked.

Fix this by using ip_ma_put(im) instead of refcount_dec(&im->refcnt), and deferring the put until after the spinlock is released. A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv4 Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) component.

Incorrect handling of reference counts in the `igmp_mod_timer()` and `igmp_stop_timer()` functions can occur when a multicast list entry is concurrently removed. This can lead to a memory leak of the `im` structure, potentially impacting system stability.

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

Discussion(0)

No comments yet. Share field notes, upgrade gotchas, or questions — verify against the vendor advisory before acting on community advice.

Sign in to join the discussion.