UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80821: Medium severity ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge vulnerability

Q: Who can trigger the resource leak?

A remote PCI host that can issue Create IO Completion Queue commands to the affected NVMe target PCI endpoint function can trigger it. Each attempt must use a PRP1/PCI address that causes address-space mapping to fail or produce a partial mapping that is too small.

Q: What is the impact of repeated exploitation?

Each failed Create IO CQ attempt leaks the completion queue and a controller reference. Repeated attempts can accumulate unreleased resources until the affected NVMe target is disrupted by resource exhaustion.

Q: Are successful queue creations affected?

The leak occurs only after completion-queue creation succeeds and the subsequent PCI mapping fails or is too small. When mapping succeeds, the queue is marked live and normal deletion performs the matching cleanup.

Q: How can I determine whether a system is exposed?

Exposure requires use of the NVMe target PCI endpoint function on one of the listed Ubuntu kernel packages, with a remote PCI host able to send Create IO CQ commands. The supplied data does not identify a log entry or other direct indicator that leaked references have already accumulated.

Published Sep 4, 2026

Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: nvmet: pci-epf: put CQ ref on createcq mapping failure nvmetpciepfcreatecq() calls nvmetcqcreate(), which takes a reference on the controller and installs the completion queue. If the subsequent PCI address-space mapping fails or returns a too-small partial mapping, the function jumps to errinternal / errunmapqueue without calling nvmetcqput(). The matching put in nvmetpciepfdeletecq() is gated on NVMETPCIEPFQLIVE, which is only set after the mapping succeeds, so teardown never releases these references. A remote PCI host that drives Create IO CQ commands with a failing PRP1/pciaddr therefore leaks the CQ and a controller reference on each attempt. Drop the CQ reference on the mapping-failure paths. The errinternal and errunmapqueue labels are only reachable after nvmetcqcreate() has succeeded, so this pairs the create/put correctly.

Affected Software

128 affected componentsFixes available

ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.0*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.3*

ubuntu/linux-azure*

ubuntu/linux-azure-5.3*

ubuntu/linux-azure-edge*

ubuntu/linux-gcp*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.3*

ubuntu/linux-gke-4.15*

ubuntu/linux-gke-5.4*

ubuntu/linux-gkeop-5.4*

ubuntu/linux-hwe*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge*

ubuntu/linux-oem*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.0*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.3*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-azure-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-azure-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-azure-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-gke*

ubuntu/linux-gke-5.15*

ubuntu/linux-gkeop*

ubuntu/linux-gkeop-5.15*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-intel-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-oem-5.10*

ubuntu/linux-oem-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-oem-5.6*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.13*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-raspi2*

ubuntu/linux-riscv*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.11*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.8*

ubuntu/linux-allwinner-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-aws-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-aws-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-aws-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-azure-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-azure-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-azure-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-intel-iot-realtime*

ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-oem-5.17*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.0*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.1*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-realtime*

ubuntu/linux-riscv*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-starfive-5.19*

ubuntu/linux-starfive-6.2*

ubuntu/linux-starfive-6.5*

ubuntu/linux-aws-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-aws-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-aws-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-azure-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-azure-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-azure-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-azure-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-azure-nvidia-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-gcp-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-hwe-7.0<7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1

7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1

ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.11*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-oem-6.8*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-oracle-7.0*

ubuntu/linux-raspi-realtime*

ubuntu/linux-realtime*

ubuntu/linux-riscv*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.17*

ubuntu/linux-riscv-7.0<7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1

7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1

ubuntu/linux-realtime-6.14*

ubuntu/linux-realtime-6.17*

ubuntu/linux<7.0.0-42.42

7.0.0-42.42

ubuntu/linux-aws<7.0.0-1016.17

7.0.0-1016.17

ubuntu/linux-azure*

ubuntu/linux-azure-fde*

ubuntu/linux-gcp<7.0.0-1016.18

7.0.0-1016.18

ubuntu/linux-gke*

ubuntu/linux-ibm<7.0.0-1017.17

7.0.0-1017.17

ubuntu/linux-nvidia*

ubuntu/linux-nvidia-bos*

ubuntu/linux-oem-7.0<7.0.0-1017.17

7.0.0-1017.17

ubuntu/linux-oracle<7.0.0-1015.16

7.0.0-1015.16

ubuntu/linux-raspi*

ubuntu/linux-realtime*

ubuntu/linux-riscv<7.0.0-42.42.1

7.0.0-42.42.1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-hwe-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-riscv-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-aws to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-1016.17
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-gcp to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-1016.18
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-ibm to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-1017.17
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-oem-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-1017.17
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-oracle to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-1015.16
Upgrade
Upgrade ubuntu/linux-riscv to a version that resolves this vulnerability.
Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42.1

Event History

Sep 4, 2026

CVE Published

via OSV·04:18 PM

Data Sourced

via OSV·04:18 PM

DescriptionSeverityAffected Software

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can trigger the resource leak?

A remote PCI host that can issue Create IO Completion Queue commands to the affected NVMe target PCI endpoint function can trigger it. Each attempt must use a PRP1/PCI address that causes address-space mapping to fail or produce a partial mapping that is too small.

What is the impact of repeated exploitation?

Each failed Create IO CQ attempt leaks the completion queue and a controller reference. Repeated attempts can accumulate unreleased resources until the affected NVMe target is disrupted by resource exhaustion.

Are successful queue creations affected?

The leak occurs only after completion-queue creation succeeds and the subsequent PCI mapping fails or is too small. When mapping succeeds, the queue is marked live and normal deletion performs the matching cleanup.

How can I determine whether a system is exposed?

Exposure requires use of the NVMe target PCI endpoint function on one of the listed Ubuntu kernel packages, with a remote PCI host able to send Create IO CQ commands. The supplied data does not identify a log entry or other direct indicator that leaked references have already accumulated.

UBUNTU-CVE-2026-80821: Medium severity ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge vulnerability

Affected Software

Remediation

Event History

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can trigger the resource leak?

What is the impact of repeated exploitation?

Are successful queue creations affected?

How can I determine whether a system is exposed?

Company

Resources

Contact

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can trigger the resource leak?

What is the impact of repeated exploitation?

Are successful queue creations affected?

How can I determine whether a system is exposed?