CVE-2026-74678 json
net: usb: ax88179_178a: fix skb leak in ax88179_tx_fixup()
published 2026-08-22 2 mo ago modified 2026-10-16 23 d ago also EUVD-2026-64365
- cvss
- 7.5
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.5%
- EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 41%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: usb: ax88179_178a: fix skb leak in ax88179_tx_fixup()
When the interface has NETIF_F_SG enabled and skb_linearize() fails in ax88179_tx_fixup(), the function returns NULL without freeing the skb.
usbnet_start_xmit() treats a NULL return from tx_fixup() as a drop (info->flags does not set FLAG_MULTI_PACKET for this driver), jumping to the "drop" label where it does `if (skb) dev_kfree_skb_any(skb)`. Because tx_fixup() returned NULL, the local skb variable in usbnet_start_xmit() is NULL, so the original skb is never freed — a memory leak on every TX frame whose linearization fails (i.e. under memory pressure).
Free the skb before returning, matching the error handling already used for the pskb_expand_head() failure path in the same function.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 6.1.183, 6.6.152, 6.12.104, 6.18.45, 7.1.9, 7.2
- linux Debian 12 6.1.187-1
- linux Debian 13 6.12.105-1
- linux Debian 14 7.1.9-1
- linux-6.12 Debian 12 6.12.107-1~deb12u1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74678
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.17
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1016.18
- linux-ibm Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
- linux-riscv Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42.1
- linux-oracle Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1015.16
- linux-hwe-7.0 Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
- linux-oem-7.0 Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1017.17
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74678
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-source Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-kvmsmall Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1
- kernel-default-base Linux Micro 6.0 6.4.0-159998.55.1.159998.21.42
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:24550-1SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/83a765cbd7b4d11b0b9fa1bb9d941ae911a2159b commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c63303659a2264bd55d9813df74cb4caeed5922 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/2be5091fa693b9119ad25a8bb8c149d236a23ade commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/58733b1dd46bb231d9d279c132a20ee46da1b664 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/4039cd807a5a46dc5f7618fffae926b8ad8455eb commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1f428e30947395d9b9aacee03e25a4e6cfcad7a4 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-2026-74678 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: net: usb: ax88179_178a: fix skb leak in ax88179_tx_fixup()
-
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, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelaffected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
-
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 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internalnot 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
- yes
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 23 d ago
Exploit prediction
0.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 41% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/83a765cbd7b4d11b0b9fa1bb9d941ae911a2159b
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/1c63303659a2264bd55d9813df74cb4caeed5922
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/2be5091fa693b9119ad25a8bb8c149d236a23ade
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/58733b1dd46bb231d9d279c132a20ee46da1b664
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/4039cd807a5a46dc5f7618fffae926b8ad8455eb
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/1f428e30947395d9b9aacee03e25a4e6cfcad7a4
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-74678
- NVD CVE-2026-74678
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