Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-31654

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.19.13 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/vma: fix memory leak in __mmap_region() commit 605f6586ecf7 ("mm/vma: do not leak memory when .mmap_prepare swaps the file") handled the success path by skipping get_file() via file_doesnt_need_get, but missed the error path. When /dev/zero is mmap'd with MAP_SHARED, mmap_zero_prepare() calls shmem_zero_setup_desc() which allocates a new shmem file to back the mapping. If __mmap_new_vma() subsequently fails, this replacement file is never fput()'d - the original is released by ksys_mmap_pgoff(), but nobody releases the new one. Add fput() for the swapped file in the error path. Reproducible with fault injection. FAULT_INJECTION: forcing a failure. name failslab, interval 1, probability 0, space 0, times 1 CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 366 Comm: syz.7.14 Not tainted 7.0.0-rc6 #2 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Ubuntu 24.04 PC v2 (i440FX + PIIX, arch_caps fix, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x164/0x1f0 should_fail_ex+0x525/0x650 should_failslab+0xdf/0x140 kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x78/0x630 vm_area_alloc+0x24/0x160 __mmap_region+0xf6b/0x2660 mmap_region+0x2eb/0x3a0 do_mmap+0xc79/0x1240 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x252/0x4c0 ksys_mmap_pgoff+0xf8/0x120 __x64_sys_mmap+0x12a/0x190 do_syscall_64+0xa9/0x580 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e </TASK> kmemleak: 1 new suspected memory leaks (see /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak) BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff8881118aca80 (size 360): comm "syz.7.14", pid 366, jiffies 4294913255 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 ad 4e ad de ff ff ff ff 00 00 00 00 .....N.......... ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff c0 28 4d ae ff ff ff ff .........(M..... backtrace (crc db0f53bc): kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x3ab/0x630 alloc_empty_file+0x5a/0x1e0 alloc_file_pseudo+0x135/0x220 __shmem_file_setup+0x274/0x420 shmem_zero_setup_desc+0x9c/0x170 mmap_zero_prepare+0x123/0x140 __mmap_region+0xdda/0x2660 mmap_region+0x2eb/0x3a0 do_mmap+0xc79/0x1240 vm_mmap_pgoff+0x252/0x4c0 ksys_mmap_pgoff+0xf8/0x120 __x64_sys_mmap+0x12a/0x190 do_syscall_64+0xa9/0x580 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e Found by syzkaller.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.19.1, < 6.19.13= 6.19= 7.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.19.13 or later
Fixed in 6.19.13
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.19.13 or later (6.19.x), or latest stable 7.x with the fix

  1. 1. Identify the current running kernel version using `uname -r`
  2. 2. Upgrade the Linux kernel to version 6.19.13 or later for the 6.19.x branch, or to the latest stable release that includes the fix for 7.x
  3. 3. For distribution-specific systems, use the package manager to install the updated kernel (e.g., `apt update && apt install linux-image-*` for Debian/Ubuntu, or `yum update kernel` for RHEL/CentOS)
  4. 4. Reboot the system to load the new kernel
  5. 5. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version with `uname -r` and confirming it matches a patched release
Caveat Standard kernel upgrade risks apply - ensure compatibility with custom drivers/modules and test in non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-31654 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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