Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-43445
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: e1000/e1000e: Fix leak in DMA error cleanup If an error is encountered while mapping TX buffers, the driver should unmap any buffers already mapped for that skb. Because count is incremented after a successful mapping, it will always match the correct number of unmappings needed when dma_error is reached. Decrementing count before the while loop in dma_error causes an off-by-one error. If any mapping was successful before an unsuccessful mapping, exactly one DMA mapping would leak. In these commits, a faulty while condition caused an infinite loop in dma_error: Commit 03b1320dfcee ("e1000e: remove use of skb_dma_map from e1000e driver") Commit 602c0554d7b0 ("e1000: remove use of skb_dma_map from e1000 driver") Commit c1fa347f20f1 ("e1000/e1000e/igb/igbvf/ixgb/ixgbe: Fix tests of unsigned in *_tx_map()") fixed the infinite loop, but introduced the off-by-one error. This issue may still exist in the igbvf driver, but I did not address it in this patch.
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 analysisAllocated 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
>= 2.6.33.1, < 5.10.253>= 5.11, < 5.15.203>= 5.16, < 6.1.167>= 6.2, < 6.6.130>= 6.7, < 6.12.78>= 6.13, < 6.18.19>= 6.19, < 6.19.9= 2.6.33= 7.0CVSS 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 · scoped5.10.2535.15.2036.1.167
kernel 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, or 6.6.130 (or later, depending on which major version branch is in use)
- Identify current kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
- Determine which version range your current kernel falls into from the affected versions list
- For enterprise Linux distributions (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian), apply the latest kernel security updates via the standard package manager (e.g., 'yum update' or 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade')
- If running a mainline or custom kernel, download and install kernel 5.10.253 or higher (if on 5.x), 5.15.203 or higher (if on 5.11-5.15), 6.1.167 or higher (if on 6.0-6.1), or 6.6.130 or higher (if on 6.2-6.6)
- Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-43445 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-43445 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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