CVE-2026-72391
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phy: sfp: free mii_bus in sfp_i2c_mdiobus_destroy sfp_i2c_mdiobus_create() allocates the I2C MDIO bus with mdio_i2c_alloc(), a plain (non-devm) allocation, and registers it. sfp_i2c_mdiobus_destroy() only unregisters the bus and clears sfp->i2c_mii without calling mdiobus_free(). As the only reference to the bus is then cleared, the struct mii_bus is leaked. This is hit whenever a copper/RollBall SFP module that instantiated an MDIO bus is removed: sfp_sm_main() takes the global teardown path and calls sfp_i2c_mdiobus_destroy(). sfp_cleanup(), on driver unbind, frees sfp->i2c_mii directly, which is why the leak only triggered on module hot-removal and not on unbind. Free the bus in sfp_i2c_mdiobus_destroy() to match the allocation done in sfp_i2c_mdiobus_create().
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
6.1
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.1.178,
6.6.145,
6.12.97,
6.18.40,
7.1.5,
7.2-rc2
and their respective stable series.
References
6 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-72391?
CVE-2026-72391 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.1 onward and has been patched in 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97 and others. CVE-2026-72391 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72391?
Yes. CVE-2026-72391 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 6.1 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-72391 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-72391 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.