Executive brief
A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Intel IGC network driver could allow a local attacker to cause a memory leak. This occurs when the system fails to properly handle network data buffers during specific transmission errors. Over time, this could lead to system instability or a denial-of-service condition as available memory is exhausted.
Technical details
A memory leak exists in the Intel IGC driver within the igc_fpe_xmit_smd_frame() function. When the igc_fpe_init_tx_descriptor() call fails, the allocated socket buffer (skb) is not properly freed, resulting in an unreferenced object in the kernel memory cache. This issue is specifically related to frame preemption (FPE) verification support. An attacker or a series of system errors could trigger this path to exhaust kernel memory. The fix introduces dev_kfree_skb_any() in the error path to ensure the buffer is released.
Affected products
- Linux Linux Kernel 6.16 to 6.18.34, 7.0.11
Timeline
- 2026-07-19: disclosed
- 2026-07-19: advisory