CVE-2026-31400: sunrpc: fix cache_request leak in cache_release

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-03 · updated 2026-07-24
Weakness: CWE-401

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: fix cache_request leak in cache_release When a reader's file descriptor is closed while in the middle of reading a cache_request (rp->offset != 0), cache_release() decrements the request's readers count but never checks whether it should free the request. In cache_read(), when readers drops to 0 and CACHE_PENDING is clear, the cache_request is removed from the queue and freed along with its buffer and cache_head reference. cache_release() lacks this cleanup. The only other path that frees requests with readers == 0 is cache_dequeue(), but it runs only when CACHE_PENDING transitions from set to clear. If that transition already happened while readers was still non-zero, cache_dequeue() will have skipped the request, and no subsequent call will clean it up. Add the same cleanup logic from cache_read() to cache_release(): after decrementing readers, check if it reached 0 with CACHE_PENDING clear, and if so, dequeue and free the cache_request.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 2.6.12.1 before 5.10.253; from 5.11 before 5.15.203; from 5.16 before 6.1.167; from 6.2 before 6.6.130; from 6.7 before 6.12.78; from 6.13 before 6.18.20 — fixed in 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.12.78, 6.18.20, 6.19.10

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.12.78. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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