{
    "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
    "dataVersion": "5.2",
    "cveMetadata": {
        "cveId": "CVE-2026-72438",
        "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "state": "PUBLISHED",
        "assignerShortName": "Linux",
        "dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.929Z",
        "datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:56:51.384Z",
        "dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:44:13.101Z"
    },
    "containers": {
        "cna": {
            "providerMetadata": {
                "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
                "shortName": "Linux",
                "dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:44:13.101Z"
            },
            "descriptions": [
                {
                    "lang": "en",
                    "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nmd/raid10: fix writes_pending and barrier reference leaks on discard failures\n\nraid10_make_request() acquires a writes_pending reference with\nmd_write_start() before calling raid10_handle_discard(). Several failure\npaths in raid10_handle_discard() complete the bio and return without\nreleasing the corresponding reference, causing md_write_end() to be\nskipped.\n\nCall md_write_end() before returning from these failure paths to keep\nwrites_pending accounting balanced.\n\nAdditionally, discard split allocation failures can occur after\nwait_barrier() succeeds. Those paths return without calling\nallow_barrier(), leaking the associated barrier reference.\n\nRelease the barrier before returning from those paths."
                }
            ],
            "metrics": [
                {
                    "cvssV3_1": {
                        "version": "3.1",
                        "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
                        "baseScore": 7.5,
                        "baseSeverity": "HIGH"
                    },
                    "scenarios": [
                        {
                            "lang": "en",
                            "value": "AV:N - RAID10 is commonly used on network-facing storage servers; discard/TRIM/UNMAP from remote iSCSI initiators or NFS clients reaches raid10_make_request() through the block layer without local host login.\nAC:L - An attacker can reliably trigger the bug by issuing large, stripe-misaligned discards to force bio_split() and inducing GFP_NOIO allocation failure via self-created memory pressure; no rare timing or victim state is required.\nPR:N - Exploitation requires only network reachability to a storage service that accepts discard/UNMAP/DEALLOCATE on the RAID10 LUN or exported filesystem, not Linux host administrator privileges or capabilities.\nUI:N - Discard, TRIM, punch-hole, and SCSI UNMAP are programmatic storage operations that do not require any interactive action by a human victim beyond normal automated I/O.\nS:U - The leaked writes_pending and barrier/nr_pending counters only corrupt RAID10/md internal accounting within the kernel storage stack and do not cross VM, container, or IOMMU security boundaries.\nC:N - The flaw is reference-count leakage on writes_pending and nr_pending with no out-of-bounds access, use-after-free, or memory disclosure; no confidential data is exposed.\nI:N - No memory corruption or unauthorized modification of user or filesystem data occurs; impact is limited to incorrect internal IO/barrier accounting rather than integrity compromise.\nA:H - Leaked nr_pending prevents raise_barrier() and freeze_array() from ever completing, causing indefinite kernel thread hangs during recovery/reshape/error handling and persistent denial of storage service on the array."
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "affected": [
                {
                    "product": "Linux",
                    "vendor": "Linux",
                    "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                    "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                    "programFiles": [
                        "drivers/md/raid10.c"
                    ],
                    "versions": [
                        {
                            "version": "c9aa889b035fca4598ae985a0f0c76ebbb547ad2",
                            "lessThan": "d1324b41dabd26787559efaeb430643c627c1eb0",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "versionType": "git"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "c9aa889b035fca4598ae985a0f0c76ebbb547ad2",
                            "lessThan": "393d687131d8aa8c7e4de2cb494438e145d20fc2",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "versionType": "git"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "39db562b3fedb93978a7e42dd216b306740959f8",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "versionType": "git"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "5.15.111",
                            "lessThan": "5.16",
                            "status": "affected",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        }
                    ]
                },
                {
                    "product": "Linux",
                    "vendor": "Linux",
                    "defaultStatus": "affected",
                    "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                    "programFiles": [
                        "drivers/md/raid10.c"
                    ],
                    "versions": [
                        {
                            "version": "5.17",
                            "status": "affected"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "0",
                            "lessThan": "5.17",
                            "status": "unaffected",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "7.1.5",
                            "lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
                            "status": "unaffected",
                            "versionType": "semver"
                        },
                        {
                            "version": "7.2",
                            "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
                            "status": "unaffected",
                            "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "cpeApplicability": [
                {
                    "nodes": [
                        {
                            "operator": "OR",
                            "negate": false,
                            "cpeMatch": [
                                {
                                    "vulnerable": true,
                                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                    "versionStartIncluding": "5.17",
                                    "versionEndExcluding": "7.1.5"
                                },
                                {
                                    "vulnerable": true,
                                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                    "versionStartIncluding": "5.17",
                                    "versionEndExcluding": "7.2"
                                },
                                {
                                    "vulnerable": true,
                                    "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                                    "versionStartIncluding": "5.15.111"
                                }
                            ]
                        }
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "references": [
                {
                    "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1324b41dabd26787559efaeb430643c627c1eb0"
                },
                {
                    "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/393d687131d8aa8c7e4de2cb494438e145d20fc2"
                }
            ],
            "title": "md/raid10: fix writes_pending and barrier reference leaks on discard failures",
            "x_generator": {
                "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
            }
        }
    }
}