Bug 2516981 (CVE-2026-74543) - CVE-2026-74543 kernel: net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
Summary: CVE-2026-74543 kernel: net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unr...
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-74543
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-08-15 12:42 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-21 08:41 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 12:42:27 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()

syzbot reported a memory leak [1] in the UDP tunnel NIC offload code.

When device registration fails (e.g. in register_netdevice()), netdev core
unwinds by sending a single NETDEV_UNREGISTER notification. If work was queued
during NETDEV_REGISTER (utn->work_pending is set), udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
returns early:

	if (utn->work_pending)
		return;

Because failed registrations do not enter netdev_wait_allrefs_any(), no
subsequent NETDEV_UNREGISTER rebroadcast will ever occur. As a result, the
struct udp_tunnel_nic allocated in udp_tunnel_nic_alloc() is leaked
permanently.

Fix this by removing the early return. Instead, synchronously cancel any
pending work with cancel_delayed_work_sync() before freeing @utn.

To be able to call cancel_delayed_work_sync() while holding RTNL (the work also
needs RTNL), switch udp_tunnel_nic_device_sync_work() to rtnl_trylock(). If RTNL
is contended, requeue the work with a 1 jiffy delay (via queue_delayed_work())
to prevent high CPU contention while waiting for RTNL lock.

The utn->work_pending bookkeeping is no longer needed and is removed, as
the workqueue core already tracks the pending/running state of the work.

[1]
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888127d5f840 (size 96):
  comm "syz-executor", pid 5806, jiffies 4294942188
  backtrace (crc 99fdb6c8):
    __kmalloc_noprof+0x3bf/0x550
    udp_tunnel_nic_alloc net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:756 [inline]
    udp_tunnel_nic_register net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:833 [inline]
    udp_tunnel_nic_netdevice_event+0x804/0xab0 net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:931
    notifier_call_chain+0x59/0x160 kernel/notifier.c:85
    call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7d/0xb0 net/core/dev.c:2250
    register_netdevice+0xc10/0xeb0 net/core/dev.c:11478


Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.