Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2025-71290: Linux Kernel memory leak in TI FPC202 probe function

CVE-2025-71290 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.5 · Published 2026-05-06

Technologies: Linux Kernel. Vendors: Linux.

Executive brief

A vulnerability was identified in the Linux kernel's driver for the Texas Instruments FPC202 dual-port controller. The issue involves a memory leak that occurs when the system attempts to initialize the hardware. If exploited, this could allow a local user to gradually exhaust system memory, potentially leading to a system crash or reduced performance.

Technical details

A memory leak vulnerability (CWE-401) exists in the drivers/misc/ti_fpc202.c component of the Linux kernel. The fpc202_probe function fails to properly release device node references during its iteration over child nodes. An attacker with local access could trigger this leak to exhaust kernel memory, leading to a denial of service. The fix replaces the manual iteration with the for_each_child_of_node_scoped() macro, which ensures that device node references are automatically released when the loop scope ends. Patches have been released for multiple stable kernel branches including 6.18.x and 6.19.x.

Affected products

  • Linux Linux Kernel 6.16 to 6.18.16, 6.19 to 6.19.6

Timeline

  • 2025-12-26: other: Patch authored
  • 2026-05-06: disclosed: CVE published
  • 2026-05-13: advisory: NVD analysis completed

References

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