Memory leak via failed livepatch codetag loading
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Error handling in the Linux module loader allows local users to leak kernel memory when a livepatch module fails codetag loading. In kernel/module/main.c, load_module() discards the codetag_load_module() error, reports success after teardown, and leaves mod->klp_info allocated by copy_module_elf() unfreed for livepatch modules. Reaching this path requires module-loading privileges and a codetag-loading failure; the documented consequences are false success and unreleased metadata, not a demonstrated crash or privilege escalation.
Summary
What happened
Error handling in the Linux module loader allows local users to leak kernel memory when a livepatch module fails codetag loading. In kernel/module/main.c, load_module() discards the codetag_load_module() error, reports success after teardown, and leaves mod->klp_info allocated by copy_module_elf() unfreed for livepatch modules. Reaching this path requires module-loading privileges and a codetag-loading failure; the documented consequences are false success and unreleased metadata, not a demonstrated crash or privilege escalation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98842
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- admin
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 18, 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=044d2aee6c575231ed4a24fb3d119bad0937488b <258310d59a82ea4854bfd9138682bbaac1153b19
- Affected versionversion=044d2aee6c575231ed4a24fb3d119bad0937488b <bfc721eef5c13704efe6864c7da2ad4b0d75f60a
- Affected versionversion=044d2aee6c575231ed4a24fb3d119bad0937488b <c79cf15eb35a4c703bf18f8c33c47e80dd660f8e
- Affected versionversion=6.15.4 <6.16
- Affected versionversion=6.16
- Affected versionversion=b6bbbb8ef48dde09c0dbd77121fa0f09b0237fec
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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