Bug 2516569 (CVE-2026-72177)

Summary: CVE-2026-72177 kernel: mm/damon/sysfs-schemes: fix dir put orders in access_pattern_add_dirs()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
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Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's memory management subsystem (DAMON). Incorrect handling of directory references during error conditions in specific functions can lead to an uninitialized memory dereference or a memory leak. This vulnerability could potentially cause system instability or unauthorized information disclosure.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:19:26 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mm/damon/sysfs-schemes: fix dir put orders in access_pattern_add_dirs()

Patch series "mm/damon/sysfs-schemes: fix wrong directories put orders in
error paths".

Error paths of damon_sysfs_access_pattern_add_dirs() and
damon_sysfs_scheme_add_dirs() functions put references to directories in
wrong orders.  As a result, uninitialized memory dereference and/or
memory leak can happen.  Fix those.


This patch (of 2):

In access_pattern_add_dirs(), error handling path puts references starting
from setup failed directories.  If the failure happpened from the initial
allication in the setup functions, uninitialized memory dereference
happen.  The allocation failures will not commonly happen, but the
consequence is quite bad.  Fix the wrong reference put orders.

The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-08-18 14:14:51 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081539-CVE-2026-72177-0644@gregkh/T