CVE-2026-72179
riscv: cacheinfo: Fix node reference leak in populate_cache_leaves
Description
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)`.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 15, 2026, 6:21 a.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 17, 2026, 6:18 a.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
- Update the Linux kernel to the latest version.
- Apply the provided patch to fix node reference leaks.
- Ensure proper reference counting for kernel nodes.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
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CVE-2026-72179.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72179 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-2026-72179
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).
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The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-72179 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-72179 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': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '2560c97f63bb99b26d9f19b23a4f66ea24c9dc14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '51afb7da697b698996351740b4f39fb05ce2afd4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '880ac50b0bfae06d7ab5f1843253adfb86aa173a', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'f322955d9a1c344ed943752f05aacea7bc22e025', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '36e4843fe39ea2f17f4de6d59fba26271916c184', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'bf4a195f063b0a0805c1417f6aad1dd32ea48f0f', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.0'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.0', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', '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-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '2560c97f63bb99b26d9f19b23a4f66ea24c9dc14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '51afb7da697b698996351740b4f39fb05ce2afd4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '880ac50b0bfae06d7ab5f1843253adfb86aa173a', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'f322955d9a1c344ed943752f05aacea7bc22e025', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '36e4843fe39ea2f17f4de6d59fba26271916c184', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'bf4a195f063b0a0805c1417f6aad1dd32ea48f0f', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.0'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.0', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', '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': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.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': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '2560c97f63bb99b26d9f19b23a4f66ea24c9dc14', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '51afb7da697b698996351740b4f39fb05ce2afd4', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '880ac50b0bfae06d7ab5f1843253adfb86aa173a', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'f322955d9a1c344ed943752f05aacea7bc22e025', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': '36e4843fe39ea2f17f4de6d59fba26271916c184', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '94f9bf118f1e294b3f2092f8bde02860f5e3ea3f', 'lessThan': 'bf4a195f063b0a0805c1417f6aad1dd32ea48f0f', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.0'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.0', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.1.178', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', '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-rc1', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/riscv/kernel/cacheinfo.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] Added Description 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)`. Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2560c97f63bb99b26d9f19b23a4f66ea24c9dc14 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/36e4843fe39ea2f17f4de6d59fba26271916c184 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/51afb7da697b698996351740b4f39fb05ce2afd4 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/880ac50b0bfae06d7ab5f1843253adfb86aa173a Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf4a195f063b0a0805c1417f6aad1dd32ea48f0f Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f322955d9a1c344ed943752f05aacea7bc22e025