What is CVE-2026-46021?

CVE-2026-46021 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401), affecting Linux kernel versions from 4.2 onward and patched in 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176 and others. CVE-2026-46021 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-46021?

CVE-2026-46021 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46021?

Yes, CVE-2026-46021 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.2 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-46021 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-46021 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Memory Leak (CWE-401)?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/401.html

CVE-2026-46021

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: thermal: core: Fix thermal zone governor cleanup issues If thermal_zone_device_register_with_trips() fails after adding a thermal governor to the thermal zone being registered, the governor is not removed from it as appropriate which may lead to a memory leak. In turn, thermal_zone_device_unregister() calls thermal_set_governor() without acquiring the thermal zone lock beforehand which may race with a governor update via sysfs and may lead to a use-after-free in that case. Address these issues by adding two thermal_set_governor() calls, one to thermal_release() to remove the governor from the given thermal zone, and one to the thermal zone registration error path to cover failures preceding the thermal zone device registration.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-05-27

Last modified 2026-06-19

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-401

CVE-2026-46021 is a Memory Leak vulnerability

What is Memory Leak?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.2 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176, 6.6.140, 6.12.86, 6.18.27, 7.0.4, 7.1 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 4.2

Fixed in

✓ 5.10.259 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.210 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.176 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.140 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.86 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.27 6.18.x ✓ 7.0.4 7.0.x ✓ 7.1

References

8 total

Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/37a430a2d4e66ec8238da6c7f7e48809bf265e13

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/41ff66baf81c6541f4f985dd7eac4494d03d9440

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/64d4ebf91d082034bbc5ae3ba2d7fd800bc02d06

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/75f8f3c3e09122270986de9d7aa347d701676761

Patch
Kernel Git
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f412e541d25a3dfaf3d53e012ade6ff03cae8a45

Patch

Showing 5 of 8 references View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-46021

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-05-27

Modified 2026-06-19

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-46021?

CVE-2026-46021 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.2 onward and has been patched in 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176 and others. CVE-2026-46021 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-46021?

CVE-2026-46021 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46021?

Yes. CVE-2026-46021 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.259, 5.15.210, 6.1.176 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.2 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-46021 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-46021 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.