Executive brief
The Linux kernel's Marvell OcteonTX2 network driver fails to release memory allocated for send-queue timestamp buffers when network interfaces are brought down or devices are removed. This causes a memory leak that accumulates over time, potentially degrading system performance and available memory on servers using this hardware.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a resource leak in the octeontx2-pf driver's send-queue (SQ) teardown code. When timestamp support is enabled for a send queue, a timestamp ring is allocated via qmem_alloc() in the driver. However, the otx2_free_sq_res() cleanup function never calls qmem_free() for the sq->timestamps buffer, causing memory to leak on each ifdown or device removal. The fix adds the missing qmem_free() call alongside other SQ companion buffer cleanup. This is a low-severity issue requiring device removal or interface state changes to trigger the leak, with no security impact beyond resource exhaustion.
Affected products
- Linux Linux kernel versions prior to fix commit a056db30de92945ff8ee6033096678bfbae878e3
Timeline
- 2026-08-15: disclosed
- 2026-06-15: patched: Upstream fix commit a056db30de92945ff8ee6033096678bfbae878e3