Junglewise Threat Intelligence

CVE-2026-97972: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: macb: put the "mdio" child node reference on success macb_mii_ini

CVE-2026-97972 · Severity: info · Published 2026-09-25

Executive brief

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: macb: put the "mdio" child node reference on success

macb_mii_init() holds the reference returned by of_get_child_by_name() for macb_mdiobus_register() and drops it only on the error paths, so every successful probe leaks a node reference. On a CM5, overlay removal after four bind cycles reports

OF: ERROR: memory leak, expected refcount 1 instead of 5

Drop the reference after registration, where __mdiobus_register() has already taken its own for the lifetime of the bus.

References