DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22979

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: fix memory leak in skb_segment_list for GRO packets When skb_segment_list() is called during packet forwarding, it handles packets that were aggregated by the GRO engine. Historically, the segmentation logic in skb_segment_list assumes that individual segments are split from a parent SKB and may need to carry their own socket memory accounting. Accordingly, the code transfers truesize from the parent to the newly created segments. Prior to commit ed4cccef64c1 ("gro: fix ownership transfer"), this truesize subtraction in skb_segment_list() was valid because fragments still carry a reference to the original socket. However, commit ed4cccef64c1 ("gro: fix ownership transfer") changed this behavior by ensuring that fraglist entries are explicitly orphaned (skb->sk = NULL) to prevent illegal orphaning later in the stack. This change meant that the entire socket memory charge remained with the head SKB, but the corresponding accounting logic in skb_segment_list() was never updated. As a result, the current code unconditionally adds each fragment's truesize to delta_truesize and subtracts it from the parent SKB. Since the fragments are no longer charged to the socket, this subtraction results in an effective under-count of memory when the head is freed. This causes sk_wmem_alloc to remain non-zero, preventing socket destruction and leading to a persistent memory leak. The leak can be observed via KMEMLEAK when tearing down the networking environment: unreferenced object 0xffff8881e6eb9100 (size 2048): comm "ping", pid 6720, jiffies 4295492526 backtrace: kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x5c6/0x800 sk_prot_alloc+0x5b/0x220 sk_alloc+0x35/0xa00 inet6_create.part.0+0x303/0x10d0 __sock_create+0x248/0x640 __sys_socket+0x11b/0x1d0 Since skb_segment_list() is exclusively used for SKB_GSO_FRAGLIST packets constructed by GRO, the truesize adjustment is removed. The call to skb_release_head_state() must be preserved. As documented in commit cf673ed0e057 ("net: fix fraglist segmentation reference count leak"), it is still required to correctly drop references to SKB extensions that may be overwritten during __copy_skb_header().

References

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-22979

Affected packages

Debian:12 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=bookworm

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.1.162-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.1.27-1

6.1.37-1

6.1.38-1

6.1.38-2~bpo11+1

6.1.38-2

6.1.38-3

6.1.38-4~bpo11+1

6.1.38-4

6.1.52-1

6.1.55-1~bpo11+1

6.1.55-1

6.1.64-1

6.1.66-1

6.1.67-1

6.1.69-1~bpo11+1

6.1.69-1

6.1.76-1~bpo11+1

6.1.76-1

6.1.82-1

6.1.85-1

6.1.90-1~bpo11+1

6.1.90-1

6.1.94-1~bpo11+1

6.1.94-1

6.1.98-1

6.1.99-1

6.1.106-1

6.1.106-2

6.1.106-3

6.1.112-1

6.1.115-1

6.1.119-1

6.1.123-1

6.1.124-1

6.1.128-1

6.1.129-1

6.1.133-1

6.1.135-1

6.1.137-1

6.1.139-1

6.1.140-1

6.1.147-1

6.1.148-1

6.1.153-1

6.1.158-1

6.1.159-1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency": "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22979.json"

Debian:13 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=trixie

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.12.69-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.12.38-1

6.12.41-1

6.12.43-1~bpo12+1

6.12.43-1

6.12.48-1

6.12.57-1~bpo12+1

6.12.57-1

6.12.63-1~bpo12+1

6.12.63-1

6.12.69-1~bpo12+1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency": "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22979.json"

Debian:14 / linux

Package

Name: linux
Purl: pkg:deb/debian/linux?arch=source&distro=forky

Affected ranges

Type: ECOSYSTEM
Events: Introduced

0 Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected

Fixed

6.18.8-1

Affected versions

6.*

6.12.38-1

6.12.41-1

6.12.43-1~bpo12+1

6.12.43-1

6.12.48-1

6.12.57-1~bpo12+1

6.12.57-1

6.12.63-1~bpo12+1

6.12.63-1

6.12.69-1~bpo12+1

6.12.69-1

6.12.73-1~bpo12+1

6.12.73-1

6.12.74-1

6.12.74-2~bpo12+1

6.12.74-2

6.12.85-1~bpo12+1

6.12.85-1

6.12.86-1~bpo12+1

6.12.86-1

6.12.88-1~bpo12+1

6.12.88-1

6.12.90-1~bpo12+1

6.12.90-1

6.12.90-2~bpo12+1

6.12.90-2

6.12.94-1~bpo12+1

6.12.94-1

6.12.95-1~bpo12+1

6.12.95-1

6.12.96-1

6.12.100-1

6.12.101-1

6.12.105-1

6.12.107-1

6.13~rc6-1~exp1

6.13~rc7-1~exp1

6.13.2-1~exp1

6.13.3-1~exp1

6.13.4-1~exp1

6.13.5-1~exp1

6.13.6-1~exp1

6.13.7-1~exp1

6.13.8-1~exp1

6.13.9-1~exp1

6.13.10-1~exp1

6.13.11-1~exp1

6.14.3-1~exp1

6.14.5-1~exp1

6.14.6-1~exp1

6.15~rc7-1~exp1

6.15-1~exp1

6.15.1-1~exp1

6.15.2-1~exp1

6.15.3-1~exp1

6.15.4-1~exp1

6.15.5-1~exp1

6.15.6-1~exp1

6.16~rc7-1~exp1

6.16-1~exp1

6.16.1-1~exp1

6.16.3-1~bpo13+1

6.16.3-1

6.16.5-1

6.16.6-1

6.16.7-1

6.16.8-1

6.16.9-1

6.16.10-1

6.16.11-1

6.16.12-1~bpo13+1

6.16.12-1

6.16.12-2

6.17.2-1~exp1

6.17.5-1~exp1

6.17.6-1

6.17.7-1

6.17.7-2

6.17.8-1~bpo13+1

6.17.8-1

6.17.9-1

6.17.10-1

6.17.11-1

6.17.12-1

6.17.13-1~bpo13+1

6.17.13-1

6.18~rc4-1~exp1

6.18~rc4-1~exp2

6.18~rc5-1~exp1

6.18~rc6-1~exp1

6.18~rc7-1~exp1

6.18.1-1~exp1

6.18.2-1~exp1

6.18.3-1

6.18.5-1~bpo13+1

6.18.5-1

Ecosystem specific

{
    "urgency": "not yet assigned"
}

Database specific

source

"https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2026-22979.json"