CVE-2026-72023
octeontx2-pf: fix SQB pointer leak on init failure
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: octeontx2-pf: fix SQB pointer leak on init failure otx2_init_hw_resources() initializes SQ aura and pool resources before several later setup steps. On failure, err_free_sq_ptrs only frees SQB pages, leaving the per-SQ sqb_ptrs arrays behind. Use otx2_free_sq_res() for the SQ unwind path and let it free sqb_ptrs even when sq->sqe has not been allocated yet. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1.1. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have an OcteonTX2 PF device and the corresponding AF mailbox setup to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 15, 2026, 6:21 a.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 17, 2026, 6:17 a.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
- Update the Linux kernel to the patched version.
- Ensure otx2_free_sq_res() is used in error paths.
- Free sqb_ptrs in the SQ unwind path.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-72023.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72023 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-72023
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-72023 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-72023 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Aug. 17, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Changed Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '148d7ec0a3a98839c320e6cdd112e2e88bfb091b', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5e023fe2569e630ba23b5558ebe4bf4837af4d16', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5df30f05db96552903680a17f858d250dfd9e86e', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '23d917acd9c9a9fd999688ec3fdde7aa58ab8a14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '62e7df6d042aeebd5efb581074e28865c04477be', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.6'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.6', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.148', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.101', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '148d7ec0a3a98839c320e6cdd112e2e88bfb091b', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5e023fe2569e630ba23b5558ebe4bf4837af4d16', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5df30f05db96552903680a17f858d250dfd9e86e', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '23d917acd9c9a9fd999688ec3fdde7aa58ab8a14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '62e7df6d042aeebd5efb581074e28865c04477be', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.6'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.6', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.148', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.101', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] -
New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Aug. 15, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '148d7ec0a3a98839c320e6cdd112e2e88bfb091b', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5e023fe2569e630ba23b5558ebe4bf4837af4d16', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '5df30f05db96552903680a17f858d250dfd9e86e', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '23d917acd9c9a9fd999688ec3fdde7aa58ab8a14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': 'caa2da34fd25a37e9fd43343b6966fb9d730a6d5', 'lessThan': '62e7df6d042aeebd5efb581074e28865c04477be', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.6'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.6', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.148', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.101', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/nic/otx2_pf.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: octeontx2-pf: fix SQB pointer leak on init failure otx2_init_hw_resources() initializes SQ aura and pool resources before several later setup steps. On failure, err_free_sq_ptrs only frees SQB pages, leaving the per-SQ sqb_ptrs arrays behind. Use otx2_free_sq_res() for the SQ unwind path and let it free sqb_ptrs even when sq->sqe has not been allocated yet. The bug was first flagged by an experimental analysis tool we are developing for kernel memory-management bugs while analyzing v6.13-rc1. The tool is still under development and is not yet publicly available. Manual inspection confirms that the bug is still present in v7.1.1. An x86_64 allyesconfig build showed no new warnings. As we do not have an OcteonTX2 PF device and the corresponding AF mailbox setup to test with, no runtime testing was able to be performed. Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/148d7ec0a3a98839c320e6cdd112e2e88bfb091b Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23d917acd9c9a9fd999688ec3fdde7aa58ab8a14 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5df30f05db96552903680a17f858d250dfd9e86e Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5e023fe2569e630ba23b5558ebe4bf4837af4d16 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/62e7df6d042aeebd5efb581074e28865c04477be