Bug 2554948 (CVE-2026-98609)

Summary: CVE-2026-98609 kernel: drm/virtio: fix object leak when drm_gem_handle_create() fails
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, 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 Linux kernel's VirtIO GPU driver. When graphics buffer handle creation fails, the driver improperly handles object references, preventing cleanup functions from freeing allocated memory and host resources. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to trigger a progressive resource leak, leading to system resource exhaustion and a Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:34:50 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

drm/virtio: fix object leak when drm_gem_handle_create() fails

virtio_gpu_gem_create() owns the reference taken by
virtio_gpu_object_create(). On the drm_gem_handle_create() error path it
calls drm_gem_object_release() instead of dropping that reference.

drm_gem_object_release() is the inverse of drm_gem_object_init() and does
not touch the reference count or call obj->funcs->free(), so it is only
correct as the last step of a destructor, as in
virtio_gpu_cleanup_object(). Using it here leaves the bo at refcount 1
with no remaining reference, so virtio_gpu_free_object() never runs and
the shmem pages, sg table and virtio_gpu_object are leaked. Since
virtio_gpu_object_create() has already set bo->created,
VIRTIO_GPU_CMD_RESOURCE_UNREF is not queued either, leaking the host-side
resource and the resource id.

drm_gem_handle_create_tail() drops the handle reference on all of its
internal error paths, so the caller only has to drop its own. Use
drm_gem_object_put(), matching the success path below.
Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-10-20 17:14:11 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98609.mbox