CVE-2026-89975

/// Technical description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

nvme-fabrics: fix DHCHAP secret leak on parse failure

nvmf_parse_options() duplicates dhchap_secret and dhchap_ctrl_secret

with match_strdup() before validating the DHHC-1: representation.

If validation fails, the parser returns -EINVAL before the temporary

string in p is assigned to opts->dhchap_secret or

opts->dhchap_ctrl_secret. nvmf_create_ctrl() subsequently frees opts,

but nvmf_free_options() cannot release the unassigned temporary string.

Each rejected option therefore leaks one allocation.

This is easy to miss because valid secrets transfer ownership to opts

and are freed normally, while the malformed-secret path still returns

the expected -EINVAL to userspace.

With CONFIG_NVME_HOST_AUTH enabled, the leak is reachable before the

required-option checks and transport lookup. No NVMe-oF target or

working transport connection is required; for example, repeatedly

writing

dhchap_secret=BAD

or

dhchap_ctrl_se

/// Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

/// References