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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-32245

| CVE-2026-45961 MEDIUM
Memory Leak (CWE-401)
2026-05-27 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 GHSA-848w-4wg8-36v4
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Recon
    Obtain low-privilege local access to GFS2-enabled host
  2. Delivery
    Confirm gfs2 kernel module loaded
  3. Exploit
    Induce cluster lock or quota subsystem error during GFS2 RW mount
  4. Install
    Trigger gfs2_fill_super fail_per_node or gfs2_make_fs_rw withdrawal path
  5. C2
    Kernel leaks thread objects or quota bitmap per iteration
  6. Execute
    Repeat mount-fail cycle to accumulate memory pressure
  7. Impact
    OOM condition degrades or halts host availability

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Resource cleanup, leak prevention
Exploitation Conditions

GFS2 filesystem support must be present and active on the target system (gfs2.ko kernel module loaded and a GFS2 volume configured). The vulnerability is triggered specifically during a GFS2 filesystem transition to read-write mode via gfs2_fill_super(), requiring either: (1) the cluster lock subsystem call gfs2_freeze_lock_shared() to fail after init_threads() has already created the logd and quotad kthreads - typically involving cluster DLM communication failures - or (2) gfs2_make_fs_rw() to fail after gfs2_quota_init() completes successfully, such as during a filesystem withdrawal event. Neither error path is reachable on default or non-GFS2 Linux configurations. Per CVSS PR:L, low-privilege local authenticated access is required. Systems without the gfs2 module loaded, or systems not using GFS2 cluster filesystems, have zero exposure.

Impact

CVSS 5.5 (Medium) with vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H accurately reflects a local, low-complexity, low-privilege memory leak with availability-only impact. The EPSS score of 0.02% (5th percentile) indicates very low real-world exploitation probability, consistent with a niche cluster filesystem subsystem reachable only on hosts that actively use GFS2. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV and no public exploit code has been identified. Real-world risk is low to moderate: the leak manifests only along specific error paths (gfs2_freeze_lock_shared failure or gfs2_make_fs_rw withdrawal), meaning exploitation requires a GFS2 mount attempt that encounters internal cluster lock or quota subsystem failures - not a default or trivially triggerable condition. Repeated triggering, such as an automated re-mount loop under error conditions, could gradually exhaust kernel memory and produce OOM events. No confidentiality or integrity impact exists, strictly bounding blast radius to availability. This vulnerability does not merit emergency patching for most organizations unless GFS2 is actively deployed in a cluster environment accessible to untrusted local users.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local user with low-level authenticated access on a Linux host running GFS2 cluster filesystems could repeatedly induce GFS2 mount failures - for example by disrupting cluster lock manager communication or causing quota subsystem errors - each iteration leaking kernel thread objects or quota bitmap memory. Over many such cycles, accumulated leaked kernel memory could push the host toward OOM conditions, causing service disruption or a kernel OOM kill of critical processes. No public exploit code exists for this vulnerability at time of analysis.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
Patch available 0.0% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Jun 16, 2026

Memory leaks in the GFS2 cluster filesystem driver (fs/gfs2/) allow a local low-privileged user to exhaust kernel memory over time, producing availability degradation or denial of service on affected Linux systems. Two distinct leak paths exist in gfs2_fill_super() error handling: kernel thread objects for logd and quotad (~4480 bytes each) are not released when gfs2_freeze_lock_shared() fails after init_threads() succeeds, and a quota bitmap buffer (8192 bytes) is not freed when gfs2_make_fs_rw() fails after gfs2_quota_init() completes. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS is 0.02% (5th percentile), consistent with a triggered-path defect requiring GFS2-specific failure conditions rather than opportunistic mass exploitation.

RemediationAI

Apply the upstream stable kernel patches available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/da6f5bbc2e7902f578b503f2a4c3d8d09ca4b102 and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e54229ecf49add8451d5f765a32c86ab4446e06c. Distribution consumers should update to the corresponding patched stable releases: 5.10.173 or later in the 5.10 branch, 5.15.99 or later in the 5.15 branch, 6.1.16 or later in the 6.1 branch, 6.2.3 or later in the 6.2 branch, or Linux 6.19.4 and 7.0 in the mainline track per EUVD-2026-32245. For systems where an immediate kernel update is operationally infeasible, a practical compensating control is to unload and blacklist the gfs2 module - run 'modprobe -r gfs2' and add 'blacklist gfs2' to /etc/modprobe.d/ - which eliminates the attack surface entirely; the trade-off is that this disables all GFS2 cluster filesystem functionality. Systems that never mount GFS2 volumes require no remediation action. No workarounds short of module removal are effective, as the leak is internal to kernel error-path logic with no user-configurable option.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux patch: 7.0
Linux patch: 0
Linux 5.10.173 <5.11
Linux 9fc32dad3cdba18669c71893f3e6d96905b39b3f
Linux b66f723bb552ad59c2acb5d45ea45c890f84498b <da6f5bbc2e7902f578b503f2a4c3d8d09ca4b102
Linux b66f723bb552ad59c2acb5d45ea45c890f84498b <e54229ecf49add8451d5f765a32c86ab4446e06c
Linux 6.1.16 <6.2
Linux 5.15.99 <5.16
Linux 6.3
Linux c2191e507147b1a22e9170ebb2aaa0f2902fcbfa
Linux 2f8623377f3e0cfaa80558631b8694d02a492b4c
Linux patch: 6.19.4
Linux 6.2.3 <6.3
Linux c713ebf2fe3f469e4af4de60a3427689ffb7c5d7

Affected Packages

euvd linux fix: 5.11, 5.16, 6.2, 6.3

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

GFS2 (Global File System 2) is a cluster-aware filesystem for Linux designed for shared block storage across multiple nodes, commonly used in Red Hat high-availability environments. The vulnerability resides in gfs2_fill_super() at fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c, the superblock initialization routine invoked during filesystem mount. CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime) applies to both leak paths: first, the fail_per_node error label omits a call to gfs2_destroy_threads(), leaving kthread structures including thread_struct and task_struct allocated but unreferenced after gfs2_freeze_lock_shared() fails; second, the withdrawal path in gfs2_make_fs_rw() at fs/gfs2/super.c does not free the quota bitmap allocated by gfs2_quota_init() at quota.c:1409. The fix unconditionally calls gfs2_destroy_threads() at fail_per_node (safe because it null-checks internally) and adds quota cleanup to the gfs2_make_fs_rw() withdrawal path. The affected CPE is cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel across multiple stable branches.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY 5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
vuln.today AI 5.5 MEDIUM

Local-only trigger via GFS2 mount operations requiring low privilege; purely availability impact through incremental kernel memory exhaustion, no confidentiality or integrity exposure.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE 3.3 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Red Hat 5.5 LOW

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
CVSS changed
Jun 16, 2026 - 02:37 NVD
5.5 (MEDIUM)
Patch available
May 27, 2026 - 19:46 EUVD
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
MEDIUM 5.5
CVE Published
May 27, 2026 - 14:17 nvd
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionNVD

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

gfs2: fix memory leaks in gfs2_fill_super error path

Fix two memory leaks in the gfs2_fill_super() error handling path when transitioning a filesystem to read-write mode fails.

First leak: kthread objects (thread_struct, task_struct, etc.) When gfs2_freeze_lock_shared() fails after init_threads() succeeds, the created kernel threads (logd and quotad) are never destroyed. This occurs because the fail_per_node label doesn't call gfs2_destroy_threads().

Second leak: quota bitmap buffer (8192 bytes) When gfs2_make_fs_rw() fails after gfs2_quota_init() succeeds but before other operations complete, the allocated quota bitmap is never freed.

The fix moves thread cleanup to the fail_per_node label to handle all error paths uniformly. gfs2_destroy_threads() is safe to call unconditionally as it checks for NULL pointers. Quota cleanup is added in gfs2_make_fs_rw() to properly handle the withdrawal case where quota initialization succeeds but the filesystem is then withdrawn.

Thread leak backtrace (gfs2_freeze_lock_shared failure): unreferenced object 0xffff88801d7bca80 (size 4480): copy_process+0x3a1/0x4670 kernel/fork.c:2422 kernel_clone+0xf3/0x6e0 kernel/fork.c:2779 kthread_create_on_node+0x100/0x150 kernel/kthread.c:478 init_threads+0xab/0x350 fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c:611 gfs2_fill_super+0xe5c/0x1240 fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c:1265

Quota leak backtrace (gfs2_make_fs_rw failure): unreferenced object 0xffff88812de7c000 (size 8192): gfs2_quota_init+0xe5/0x820 fs/gfs2/quota.c:1409 gfs2_make_fs_rw+0x7a/0xe0 fs/gfs2/super.c:149 gfs2_fill_super+0xfbb/0x1240 fs/gfs2/ops_fstype.c:1275

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.0%
Top 95% exploitable
Data Quality
6 sources
Confidence: High

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.0%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact· derived
Medium

Priority Score

28
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +28
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Low
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Affected

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