Memory exhaustion via leaked internal TCP sockets
Published Sep 17, 2026 · Updated Sep 17, 2026
Memory leakage in Linux 6.11 SMC sockets allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeatedly denied socket creation calls. In net/smc/smc_inet.c, smc_inet_prot and smc_inet6_prot lack destroy hooks, so failed socket creation leaves the internal TCP socket allocated when smc_destruct returns early. Exploitation requires SMC support and the ability to attach a deny-all BPF_CGROUP_INET_SOCK_CREATE program to the task's cgroup, causing unbounded kernel memory growth.
Summary
What happened
Memory leakage in Linux 6.11 SMC sockets allows local users to exhaust kernel memory through repeatedly denied socket creation calls. In net/smc/smc_inet.c, smc_inet_prot and smc_inet6_prot lack destroy hooks, so failed socket creation leaves the internal TCP socket allocated when smc_destruct returns early. Exploitation requires SMC support and the ability to attach a deny-all BPF_CGROUP_INET_SOCK_CREATE program to the task's cgroup, causing unbounded kernel memory growth.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-90065
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 17, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 17, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 17, 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?
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- Affected versionversion=6.11
- Affected versionversion=d25a92ccae6bed02327b63d138e12e7806830f78 <2f4ece7fed6d915ec64b7735962c0d84d6261032
- Affected versionversion=d25a92ccae6bed02327b63d138e12e7806830f78 <84180988a455fd8e147c6b35c8df65d8b8cc76c2
- Affected versionversion=d25a92ccae6bed02327b63d138e12e7806830f78 <94a913cd521c0f0408820bcdbd80dadf076d97b5
- Affected versionversion=d25a92ccae6bed02327b63d138e12e7806830f78 <cec261b0b4c5c0b044165303198d10ffcdf3414c
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
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