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CVE-2026-45900 Linux CVE debrief

A memory leak vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's NXP CAAM (Cryptographic Acceleration and Assurance Module) driver for DPAA2 (Data Path Acceleration Architecture Gen 2) platforms. The issue stems from incomplete cleanup of dynamically allocated net_device structures during probe failure paths. When commit 0e1a4d427f58 converted embedded net_device structures to dynamically allocated pointers, cleanup logic was added to dpaa2_dpseci_disable() but omitted from dpaa2_dpseci_free(). This causes net_device allocations to leak when dpaa2_dpseci_dpio_setup() fails during probe, typically when DPIO devices are not yet ready. While the kernel's deferred probe mechanism successfully retries, the leaked netdevs accumulate and trigger kmemleak reports. The fix preserves CPU mask state during setup to ensure proper targeted cleanup in dpaa2_dpseci_free(), accounting for CPU hotplug scenarios.

Vendor
Linux
Product
Unknown
CVSS
Unknown
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2026-05-27
Original CVE updated
2026-05-27
Advisory published
2026-05-27
Advisory updated
2026-05-27

Who should care

Organizations running Linux on NXP DPAA2 hardware (LS1043A, LS1046A, LS2088A, LX2160A, etc.) with CAAM cryptographic acceleration enabled; kernel maintainers backporting CAAM driver changes; embedded systems using hardware crypto offload where memory pressure is a concern

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a memory leak in drivers/crypto/caam/dpaa2-caam.c affecting NXP DPAA2 platforms with CAAM cryptographic hardware. When probe fails due to unavailable DPIO devices, allocated net_device structures are not freed because dpaa2_dpseci_free() lacks cleanup logic present in dpaa2_dpseci_disable(). The fix introduces CPU mask preservation to enable proper per-CPU netdev cleanup during error handling, preventing kmemleak-detectable memory leaks across deferred probe retries.

Defensive priority

medium

Recommended defensive actions

  • Review kernel version and confirm crypto/caam/dpaa2-caam.c driver is present on NXP DPAA2-based systems
  • Apply stable kernel patches from 5.15.y, 6.1.y, 6.6.y, or 6.12.y branches as appropriate for your distribution
  • Monitor kmemleak reports on systems using CAAM hardware acceleration for cryptographic operations
  • If running custom kernels with backported CAAM driver changes, verify commit 0e1a4d427f58 conversion is accompanied by proper cleanup in dpaa2_dpseci_free()
  • Consider enabling CONFIG_DEBUG_KMEMLEAK for detection of similar memory leaks in kernel drivers

Evidence notes

Vulnerability description confirms this is a kernel memory leak in crypto/caam/dpaa2-caam.c, introduced by commit 0e1a4d427f58 and fixed by preserving CPU mask for proper netdev cleanup in error paths. Multiple stable kernel fix commits are referenced.

Official resources

2026-05-27