Bug 2516603 (CVE-2026-72128)

Summary:	CVE-2026-72128 kernel: nvmet: fix refcount leak in nvmet_sq_create()
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
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Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the `nvmet` (NVMe over Fabrics target) component of the Linux kernel. This vulnerability occurs in the `nvmet_sq_create()` function, where a reference to a controller object is not properly released if a specific check fails. An attacker could potentially exploit this reference count leak to exhaust system resources, leading to a denial of service (DoS).	Story Points:	---
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:21:21 UTC

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

nvmet: fix refcount leak in nvmet_sq_create()

In nvmet_sq_create(), a reference on the ctrl is taken
via kref_get_unless_zero() before calling nvmet_check_sqid().
If nvmet_check_sqid() fails, the function returns the error
directly without releasing the reference, leading to a leak.

Fix this by jumping to the "ctrl_put" label, which already
performs the necessary nvmet_ctrl_put(ctrl). This ensures the
reference is properly released on this error path.

Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-08-17 23:05:22 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081530-CVE-2026-72128-6027@gregkh/T