CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-72048

Low risk· EPSS 12%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.21%

12th percentile - higher than 12% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the ca8210 driver (IEEE 802.15.4) has a memory leak in ca8210_spi_transfer(). On spi_async() failure, the completion callback is not invoked, leaving the allocated cas_ctl buffer orphaned. Under sustained SPI bus contention, each retry iteration leaks about 600 bytes.

Risk Assessment

Risk of kernel memory exhaustion due to repeated SPI errors, potentially leading to system instability or denial of service.

Recommendation

Apply a Linux kernel update that frees cas_ctl on the spi_async() error path.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ieee802154: ca8210: fix cas_ctl leak on spi_async failure ca8210_spi_transfer() allocates cas_ctl with kzalloc_obj(GFP_ATOMIC) and relies entirely on the SPI completion callback ca8210_spi_transfer_complete() to free it. The spi_async() API only invokes the completion callback on successful submission. On failure it returns a negative error code without ever queuing the callback, which leaves cas_ctl and its embedded spi_message and spi_transfer orphaned. Every kfree(cas_ctl) in the driver is inside the completion callback, so there is no other reclamation path. ca8210_spi_transfer() is called from ca8210_spi_exchange(), the interrupt handler ca8210_interrupt_handler(), and from the retry path inside the completion callback itself. The exchange and interrupt handler paths loop on -EBUSY, so under sustained SPI bus contention every retry iteration leaks a fresh cas_ctl (~600 bytes per occurrence). Fix it by freeing cas_ctl on the spi_async() error path. While here, correct the misleading error string: the function calls spi_async(), not spi_sync().

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS