CVE-2026-31390

Vulnerability

CVE-2026-31390 describes a memory leak in the Linux kernel's Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) subsystem for Intel Xe GPUs. The leak occurs in the xe_vm_madvise_ioctl function when the check_bo_args_are_sane() validation fails. Without the fix, the function returns early without freeing allocated resources, leading to memory exhaustion over time.

Exploitation

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker needs local access to the system and the ability to invoke the xe_vm_madvise_ioctl syscall. The attack does not require elevated privileges initially, but the memory leak can be triggered repeatedly to deplete kernel memory, potentially leading to denial-of-service conditions.

Impact

A local attacker can cause a denial-of-service by exhausting kernel memory, which may result in system instability or unavailability. No data confidentiality or integrity is compromised directly.

Mitigation

The fix was introduced in the Linux kernel commit [1] and has been backported to stable branches. Users are advised to update to the latest stable kernel containing this patch.