CVE-2026-43157

Memory exhaustion via unreleased flow-control bitmaps

Published May 6, 2026 · Updated May 6, 2026

Memory leak in the octeontx2-af CGX driver in the Linux kernel allows local users to exhaust memory through repeated driver rebinding. cgx_lmac_init() allocates RX and TX flow-control bitmaps, but cgx_lmac_exit() drops their references without freeing them during teardown. Exploitation requires local access capable of unbinding and rebinding the Marvell octeontx2 CGX driver, and repeated cycles can consume kernel memory until service interruption.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.13%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Memory leak in the octeontx2-af CGX driver in the Linux kernel allows local users to exhaust memory through repeated driver rebinding. cgx_lmac_init() allocates RX and TX flow-control bitmaps, but cgx_lmac_exit() drops their references without freeing them during teardown. Exploitation requires local access capable of unbinding and rebinding the Marvell octeontx2 CGX driver, and repeated cycles can consume kernel memory until service interruption.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-43157
Published
May 6, 2026
Updated
May 6, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux Kernel
Classifications
CWE-401, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 6, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.18
  2. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <013ac469596a0b8671e62d89c89ae0bd46bbe667
  3. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <3def995c4ede842adf509c410e92d09a0cedc965
  4. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <6d389382ee655128056fbdab86baad8495ffbf33
  5. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ad8a13a45c5c24d0d32de9a1c3fd58498a675ece
  6. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ccca14bbdcc25829d355b9f4d3249f43dadb71c1
  7. Affected versionversion=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ccef79af58b43787c25710c9da96651c6ddfe50f

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linux Kernelversion=5.18; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <013ac469596a0b8671e62d89c89ae0bd46bbe667; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <3def995c4ede842adf509c410e92d09a0cedc965; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <6d389382ee655128056fbdab86baad8495ffbf33; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ad8a13a45c5c24d0d32de9a1c3fd58498a675ece; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ccca14bbdcc25829d355b9f4d3249f43dadb71c1; version=e740003874edc13e468d19233f99787bedb4bb8e <ccef79af58b43787c25710c9da96651c6ddfe50f

Published CVSS scores

5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-401Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

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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