CVE-2026-72040 json
ipmi: fix refcount leak in i_ipmi_request()
published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-11-06 2 d ago also EUVD-2026-58998
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 11%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipmi: fix refcount leak in i_ipmi_request()
When a caller provides a `supplied_recv` message to i_ipmi_request(), the function increments the user's `nr_msgs` reference count. If an error occurs later, the out_err cleanup path only frees the recv_msg if the function allocated it itself (i.e., !supplied_recv). In the supplied_recv case the cleanup is skipped, leaving the reference count elevated. The caller ipmi_request_supply_msgs() does not release the supplied_recv on error, so the reference is permanently leaked.
Fix this by explicitly reverting the reference count operations when a supplied recv_msg with a valid user pointer is present in the error path: decrement nr_msgs and drop the user's kref.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 6.1.184, 6.6.148, 6.12.101, 6.18, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
- linux Debian 12 6.1.187-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.101-1
- linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1
- linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.101-1~deb12u1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72040
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-147.147
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1067.70
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1071.79
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1066.74
- linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72040
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
- kernel-syms-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
- kernel-source-rt Real Time Module 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.7.81.1
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
- kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.87.3
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:4940-1SUSE-SU-2026:4935-1SUSE-SU-2026:24473-1SUSE-SU-2026:24553-1SUSE-SU-2026:24422-1SUSE-SU-2026:24446-1
- kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
- kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.40.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:22167-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/122ca6b2af714e114c9b872a48372ace31a9ab1f commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/9409e18ffe7378d202efe1cf69989df9f67b0369 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2a3b77df6aef031455dd83ea8ed4344b7dca1f9 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/f5c5065963024390ddad51bd455d1adc710de575 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/0fd23994ec8c5436d9f0b50848deb87ed933e6b3 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3f3859cecacb64f18fd446271ece9a3b3f2d4de commit
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-72040 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: ipmi: fix refcount leak in i_ipmi_request()
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 2 d ago
Exploit prediction
0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 11% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/122ca6b2af714e114c9b872a48372ace31a9ab1f
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/9409e18ffe7378d202efe1cf69989df9f67b0369
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/e2a3b77df6aef031455dd83ea8ed4344b7dca1f9
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/f5c5065963024390ddad51bd455d1adc710de575
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/0fd23994ec8c5436d9f0b50848deb87ed933e6b3
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/a3f3859cecacb64f18fd446271ece9a3b3f2d4de
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-72040
- NVD CVE-2026-72040
Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.