* [CVE-2026-97979][LOW] ice: add missing xa_destroy for sched_node_ids [ Upstream
@ 2026-09-30 6:25 21% AL-KERNEL
0 siblings, 0 replies; 1+ results
From: AL-KERNEL @ 2026-09-30 6:25 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: kernel-cve
CVE: CVE-2026-97979
Priority: LOW
AL-KERNEL base severity: LOW
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: ice: add missing xa_destroy for sched_node_ids [ Upstream
Commit: 44cdd6b7e036303f7fecf841cf23c05a4a4faf2d
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=44cdd6b7e036303f7fecf841cf23c05a4a4faf2d
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97979
Analysis date: Wed, 30 Sep 2026 02:25:25 -0400
ActionableScore: 2
ActionableScore lower bound: 1
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO
Summary:
No one-sentence report phrase was found.
======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97979 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97979
The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.
The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.
Published priority for this report: LOW
Manual review required: NO
A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.
======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================
CVE-2026-97979 LOW https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-97979 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H';*CWE-401;*CWE-772;**CWE-400;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '5.5';DESCR 'The ice driver can leak internal xarray memory because sched_node_ids is initialized during ice_init_hw but is not destroyed when the hardware context is deinitialized or an initialization attempt fails. Removing every stored element does not necessarily release the internal xarray nodes. Repeated devlink reload operations or other paths that invoke hardware reinitialization can therefore accumulate unreclaimed kernel memory and may eventually cause resource exhaustion. For the CVSS the PR:L value is used for the paranoid score because a reduced capability administrator, container root, or service account with delegated device management rights may be able to repeat the affected lifecycle without full host control. The issue is not directly network reachable and ordinary packet traffic does not trigger it. The realistic impact is limited memory consumption, while sustained abuse may cause denial of service through memory exhaustion. No UAF, OOB access, or other memory corruption primitive is visible in the affected lifecycle.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 2) MAYBE REMOTE INIT LEAK NETWORK DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS_AND_CIANNH DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 - - checked
======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================
ActionableScore=2
ActionableScoreLower=1
PrimitiveClass=NONE
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=NO
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
1. ActionableScore
* Raw conservative score: 1
* Conservative score: 1
* Raw paranoid score: 2
* Paranoid score: 2
* No floor or cap was applied.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::
2. Signal breakdown
Conservative signals:
* +1 Concrete persistent kernel resource leak. `sched_node_ids` can retain allocated internal xarray nodes because neither normal deinitialization nor initialization failure called `xa_destroy()`.
* No privilege penalty. Device-management privilege is likely relevant, but the supplied call paths do not positively establish the complete capability check or its namespace.
* No additional availability point. Kernel-wide memory exhaustion or a crash is not demonstrated.
Paranoid additional signal:
* +1 Meaningful accumulation. The commit explicitly states that `ice_init_hw()` has multiple invocation paths, including devlink reload, so repeated lifecycle operations can accumulate unreclaimed allocations and plausibly cause memory pressure.
Important non-awarded signals:
* No UAF, dangling dereference, repeated release, OOB access, overwrite, or active-object corruption is established.
* No reliable kernel crash, arbitrary write, controlled reclaim, confidentiality impact, integrity impact, or privilege escalation is demonstrated.
* Remote reachability is not established. Network packets do not directly exercise the missing cleanup.
* No extra resource-exhaustion points were added beyond the single paranoid accumulation consequence.
3. Reachability analysis
The leak occurs when ICE hardware state is initialized and later deinitialized, or when initialization fails after xarray setup. Devlink reload is one identified repeatable route, while DDP-related reinitialization is described as possible.
Managing a physical ICE adapter through devlink normally involves device-management privilege, but the supplied material does not show the exact capability check or prove that host-admin-equivalent privilege is mandatory for every affected path. Therefore `HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN`.
The complete operation is not shown to work through an attacker-created user or network namespace, so `NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN`. A compatible Intel ICE adapter and loaded driver are prerequisites, but this does not justify a rare-hardware penalty. There is no race or special timing requirement.
4. Primitive and severity interpretation
The exact defect is a persistent leak of internal xarray allocations. Removing every xarray element does not necessarily free its internal nodes, and the missing `xa_destroy()` leaves those allocations behind across hardware lifecycle operations.
This is not a UAF or stale structured-object use. The discussion about possible dangling `port_info` references explains why the developers moved the xarray into `struct ice_hw`; it does not establish an existing dangling-reference vulnerability.
The demonstrated consequence is bounded memory leakage per affected lifecycle. Sustained repetition may cause resource exhaustion, but no immediate host crash or isolation-boundary bypass is shown. Consequently the issue has no Class A, B, or C corruption primitive and is classified as `NONE`.
`ImportantCandidate=NO` because there is no corruption, authorization bypass, ownership violation, or strong DoS primitive. `AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES` because the remaining issue is an ordinary privileged or privilege-uncertain resource leak without unresolved exploitation leverage.
5. One-sentence report phrase
The ICE driver can leak internal xarray allocations across hardware reinitialization or failure cleanup, with repeated lifecycle operations potentially causing memory pressure but no demonstrated memory corruption or privilege escalation.
6. Manual review recommendation
NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED
The patch establishes a conventional resource leak with no UAF, overwrite, security-boundary bypass, or credible Important-class primitive.
7. Call-site confidence
Call-site confidence: high
======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================
Patch: ice: add missing xa_destroy for sched_node_ids [ Upstream
Commit: 44cdd6b7e036303f7fecf841cf23c05a4a4faf2d
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=44cdd6b7e036303f7fecf841cf23c05a4a4faf2d
Changed files:
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_common.c
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_sched.c
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_type.h
Diff excerpt:
Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.
Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=44cdd6b7e036303f7fecf841cf23c05a4a4faf2d
======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================
The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-97979 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-97979
The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.
The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.
This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.
The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.
Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:
Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 5.5
The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.
CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.
A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.
Conservative ActionableScore: 1
Paranoid ActionableScore: 2
The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.
For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:
ActionableScore below 5 -> MODERATE REGULAR
ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0
The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.
There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).
KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.
AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: LOW
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): LOW
These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).
Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is [email protected] (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).
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