Local service interruption via incomplete sysfs cleanup
Published Feb 14, 2026 · Updated Feb 14, 2026
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases beginning with 5.18 allows local users to disrupt the DAMON sysfs interface after setup fails. In mm/damon/sysfs-schemes.c, the scheme setup error path releases the access_pattern object without first removing its sz, nr_accesses, and age subdirectories, leaving sysfs entries and memory allocated. The path exists only when CONFIG_DAMON_SYSFS is enabled, and DAMON control files require root permission; the interface remains nearly unusable until reboot.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in affected Linux Kernel releases beginning with 5.18 allows local users to disrupt the DAMON sysfs interface after setup fails. In mm/damon/sysfs-schemes.c, the scheme setup error path releases the access_pattern object without first removing its sz, nr_accesses, and age subdirectories, leaving sysfs entries and memory allocated. The path exists only when CONFIG_DAMON_SYSFS is enabled, and DAMON control files require root permission; the interface remains nearly unusable until reboot.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-23142
- Published
- Feb 14, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 14, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 14, 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=5.18
- Affected versionversion=9bbb820a5bd5f406ae5e0819cc31f2c2e6f4d990 <16236b0b4a08fa3e326cf1373ef789dabdc2e30d
- Affected versionversion=9bbb820a5bd5f406ae5e0819cc31f2c2e6f4d990 <392b3d9d595f34877dd745b470c711e8ebcd225c
- Affected versionversion=9bbb820a5bd5f406ae5e0819cc31f2c2e6f4d990 <725d4fdaa01bd1161782081f419e1568cc7432e0
- Affected versionversion=9bbb820a5bd5f406ae5e0819cc31f2c2e6f4d990 <ae8ac0066b48ed957bdcab58f0d3543549c57a29
- Affected versionversion=9bbb820a5bd5f406ae5e0819cc31f2c2e6f4d990 <e9711bd0e64812c694a228cf58c9e6032decee54
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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