Kernel crash via qla2xxx allocation cleanup
Published Sep 25, 2026 · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Double-free handling in Linux before 6.18.53 and 7.2.7 crashes the kernel when qla2xxx adapter allocation fails during probe. Error labels in qla2x00_mem_alloc() free adapter members without clearing their pointers, after which qla2x00_mem_free() frees them again and can pass a NULL DMA pool to dma_pool_free(). Reachability requires a qla2xxx adapter and an allocation failure during probing; the published record establishes a kernel crash but no attacker-controlled trigger.
Summary
What happened
Double-free handling in Linux before 6.18.53 and 7.2.7 crashes the kernel when qla2xxx adapter allocation fails during probe. Error labels in qla2x00_mem_alloc() free adapter members without clearing their pointers, after which qla2x00_mem_free() frees them again and can pass a NULL DMA pool to dma_pool_free(). Reachability requires a qla2xxx adapter and an allocation failure during probing; the published record establishes a kernel crash but no attacker-controlled trigger.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-97532
- Published
- Sep 25, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 25, 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=0 <6.18.53
- Affected versionversion=0 <7.2.7
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <286d9594a022dd7e0caa3de9daa63b896bc70d43
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <6d90f0feb929f6c0f3010f9af4747c7230b75993
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <a57570229edb7a0990d5c8067daeb9ac8858a961
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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