Memory Leak Affecting kernel-kvmsmall package, versions <6.12.0-160000.37.1


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

Based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.53% (42nd percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-SLES1600-KERNELKVMSMALL-19334066
  • published27 Aug 2026
  • disclosed11 Aug 2026

Introduced: 11 Aug 2026

NewCVE-2026-53397  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-401  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade SLES:16.0.0 kernel-kvmsmall to version 6.12.0-160000.37.1 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-kvmsmall package and not the kernel-kvmsmall package as distributed by SLES. See How to fix? for SLES:16.0.0 relevant fixed versions and status.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nfsd: fix posix_acl leak on SETACL decode failure

nfsaclsvc_decode_setaclargs() and nfs3svc_decode_setaclargs() each call nfs_stream_decode_acl() twice, first for NFS_ACL and then for NFS_DFACL. Each successful call transfers ownership of a freshly allocated posix_acl into argp->acl_access or argp->acl_default. If the first call succeeds but the second fails, the decoder returns false and argp->acl_access is left dangling.

ACLPROC2_SETACL.pc_release was wired to nfssvc_release_attrstat and ACLPROC3_SETACL.pc_release was wired to nfs3svc_release_fhandle. Both only call fh_put() and have no knowledge of the ACL fields on argp. The posix_acl_release() pairs sat at the out: labels inside nfsacld_proc_setacl() and nfsd3_proc_setacl(), but svc_process() skips pc_func when pc_decode returns false, so that cleanup is unreachable on decode failure:

svc_process_common()
  pc_decode()                  /* decode_setaclargs: false */
  /* pc_func skipped */
  pc_release()                 /* fh_put only -- ACLs leaked */

The orphaned posix_acl is leaked for the lifetime of the server.

Fix by adding nfsaclsvc_release_setacl() and nfs3svc_release_setacl(), which release both argp->acl_access and argp->acl_default in addition to fh_put(), and wiring them as pc_release for their respective SETACL procedures. pc_release runs on every path svc_process() takes after decode, including decode failure, so the posix_acl_release() pairs are removed from the proc functions' out: labels to keep ownership in one place. This matches the existing release_getacl() pattern used by the sibling GETACL procedures.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1