Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-64139

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-07-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2 / 6.6.142 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click 4 weeks old

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: ksmbd: fix SID memory leak in set_posix_acl_entries_dacl() on overflow Commit 299f962c0b02 ("ksmbd: use check_add_overflow() to prevent u16 DACL size overflow") added check_add_overflow() guards that break out of the ACE-building loops in set_posix_acl_entries_dacl() when the accumulated DACL size would wrap past 65535. However, each iteration allocates a struct smb_sid via kmalloc_obj() at the top of the loop and relies on the kfree(sid) call at the end of the loop body (the 'pass_same_sid' label in the first loop, and the explicit kfree at the tail of the second loop) to release it. The newly introduced 'break' statements bypass those kfree() calls, leaking the sid buffer every time an overflow is detected. A malicious or malformed file with enough POSIX ACL entries to trip the overflow check will leak one or more struct smb_sid allocations on every request that touches the file's DACL, providing a trivial kernel memory exhaustion vector. Free sid before breaking out of the loops to plug the leak.

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:>= 6.1.175, < 6.2>= 6.6.136, < 6.6.142>= 6.12.84, < 6.12.92>= 6.18.25, < 6.18.34>= 7.0.2, < 7.0.11= 7.1

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 6.2 / 6.6.142 / 6.12.92 or later
Fixed in 6.26.6.1426.12.92
Recommended fix High confidence

6.2, 6.6.142, 6.12.92, or 6.18.34 (depending on current kernel branch)

  1. Upgrade the Linux kernel to a fixed version to resolve the memory leak in ksmbd's set_posix_acl_entries_dacl() function
  2. For systems running kernel 6.1.x: upgrade to 6.2 or later
  3. For systems running kernel 6.6.x: upgrade to 6.6.142 or later
  4. For systems running kernel 6.12.x: upgrade to 6.12.92 or later
  5. For systems running kernel 6.18.x: upgrade to 6.18.34 or later
  6. After upgrading, verify the ksmbd module is loaded and functioning correctly
  7. Monitor system memory usage to confirm the leak is resolved
Caveat Kernel upgrades should be safe within the same major.minor series; however, test in a staging environment first to ensure compatibility with custom modules and local configurations

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

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2026-64139 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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