Local denial of service via model-number memory leak
Published May 1, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Memory leak in the NVMe target configfs interface in Linux 5.7 through 5.8.5 and 5.9-rc1 through 5.9-rc2 allows local users to exhaust memory. The nvmet_subsys_attr_model_store function allocates new_model_number for a model-name write but returns without releasing that temporary string. Repeated writes require CAP_SYS_ADMIN access to the NVMe target configfs attributes and consume kernel memory until services hang or the host crashes.
Summary
What happened
Memory leak in the NVMe target configfs interface in Linux 5.7 through 5.8.5 and 5.9-rc1 through 5.9-rc2 allows local users to exhaust memory. The nvmet_subsys_attr_model_store function allocates new_model_number for a model-name write but returns without releasing that temporary string. Repeated writes require CAP_SYS_ADMIN access to the NVMe target configfs attributes and consume kernel memory until services hang or the host crashes.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-36790
- Published
- May 1, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 1, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=013b7ebe5a0d70e2a02fd225174595e79c591b3e <227064b2ca9e62270ed445665ae849c73f0dfb2c
- Affected versionversion=013b7ebe5a0d70e2a02fd225174595e79c591b3e <382fee1a8b623e2546a3e15e80517389e0e0673e
- Affected versionversion=5.7
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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