CVE-2026-98953
devlink: fix devlink_rel reference leak when notify work is pending
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: devlink: fix devlink_rel reference leak when notify work is pending devlink_rel_nested_in_notify_work_schedule() takes a reference on the devlink_rel for the notify work and then queues the work, ignoring the return value of schedule_delayed_work(). If the work is already pending, nothing new is queued, the work runs only once and drops only one reference, so the extra one is leaked together with the devlink_rel and its index in devlink_rels. This is easy to hit. devl_register() of a nested instance queues the work, and if the instance is unregistered before the work has run, devlink_rel_put() queues it again while it is still pending. The work also keeps rescheduling itself for as long as the parent devlink lock cannot be taken, which widens the window. Registering and unregistering a nested devlink instance 100 times while holding the parent lock leaks all 100 devlink_rel objects. The reschedule path in devlink_rel_nested_in_notify_work() has the same problem: if the work was queued again while it was running, the reference it holds is never dropped. Drop the reference in both places when the work was already pending. The pending work holds its own reference, so this can not be the last one.
Affected products and packages
CNA (CVE.org)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | affected: c137743bce02b18c1537d4681aa515f7b80bf0a8 … < 8c7830e0120e6e1f5084212fd5b79b3092496f87 affected: c137743bce02b18c1537d4681aa515f7b80bf0a8 … < 8de57bfec3825effb57fe4d25da98ec3b8fda4c6 affected: c137743bce02b18c1537d4681aa515f7b80bf0a8 … < dc2e787b5fb474241c8a6d18fdacb44adc6d571f affected: c137743bce02b18c1537d4681aa515f7b80bf0a8 … < c5381ae1cd1481cc431c2bd79460472c6f1d3ce3 default: unaffected |
| Linux | Linux | affected: 6.7 unaffected: 0 … < 6.7 unaffected: 6.12.113 … <= 6.12.* unaffected: 6.18.57 … <= 6.18.* unaffected: 7.2.11 … <= 7.2.* unaffected: 7.3 … <= * default: affected |
Open-source packages (GitHub Advisory / OSV)
devlink: fix devlink_rel reference leak when notify work is pending
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| >= c137743bce02b18c1537d4681aa515f7b80bf0a8, < 8c7830e0120e6e1f5084212fd5b79b3092496f87; < 8de57bfec3825effb57fe4d25da98ec3b8fda4c6; < dc2e787b5fb474241c8a6d18fdacb44adc6d571f; < c5381ae1cd1481cc431c2bd79460472c6f1d3ce3 | 8c7830e0120e6e1f5084212fd5b79b3092496f87, 8de57bfec3825effb57fe4d25da98ec3b8fda4c6, dc2e787b5fb474241c8a6d18fdacb44adc6d571f, c5381ae1cd1481cc431c2bd79460472c6f1d3ce3 | ||
| Linux | Kernel | >= 6.7.0, < 6.12.113; >= 6.13.0, < 6.18.57; >= 6.19.0, < 7.2.11 | 6.12.113, 6.18.57, 7.2.11 |
Linux distribution status
References (7)
- https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c7830e0120e6e1f5084212fd5b79b3092496f87 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8de57bfec3825effb57fe4d25da98ec3b8fda4c6 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c5381ae1cd1481cc431c2bd79460472c6f1d3ce3 NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc2e787b5fb474241c8a6d18fdacb44adc6d571f NVD, CNA, OSV
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98953.json OSV
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98953 OSV