Local denial of service via kernel-memory leak
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Resource leakage in the Linux kernel TPMI driver 7.1 allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeated debugfs writes. The mem_write() error paths return without freeing the temporary array allocated by parse_int_array_user(), retaining kernel memory after each request. Repeated writes require local access to the TPMI debugfs control on supported Intel hardware and consume memory until system availability is impaired.
Summary
What happened
Resource leakage in the Linux kernel TPMI driver 7.1 allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeated debugfs writes. The mem_write() error paths return without freeing the temporary array allocated by parse_int_array_user(), retaining kernel memory after each request. Repeated writes require local access to the TPMI debugfs control on supported Intel hardware and consume memory until system availability is impaired.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72145
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-772, T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 15, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=7.1
- Affected versionversion=8e0a2fc68ec369f2b6755994da1d318d0898a9d9 <2137f21542900233a42bf00578817f9b8dfecadc
- Affected versionversion=8e0a2fc68ec369f2b6755994da1d318d0898a9d9 <a221557958e3a82d8565729d445a7385963f30b6
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo