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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-45887: Linux kernel · af_unix: Fix memleak of newsk in unix_stream_connect().

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
5.5Medium
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 4% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 27 May 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

AI-suggested

Since this is a kernel memory leak fix, applying the official Linux kernel updates or distribution-specific patches for the affected Ubuntu versions when available is recommended to resolve the issue.

Description

A memory leak vulnerability (CVE-2026-45887) in the Linux kernel's AF_UNIX socket implementation was fixed. The issue occurs in the unix_stream_connect() function where, if prepare_peercred() fails, the new socket (newsk) is not properly released, causing a memory leak. The fix involved reordering calls to ensure proper cleanup. This vulnerability has a moderate CVSS score of 5.5 and affects various Ubuntu LTS versions and related distributions.

References

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