CVE-2026-72182
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's power supply charger-manager component. A reference count (refcount) leak occurs within the is_full_charged() function. This happens when a reference to the fuel gauge power supply is obtained but not properly released if a specific voltage check succeeds. This resource leak could potentially lead to system instability or a denial of service.
Statement
A moderate-impact reference count (refcount) leak was found in the Linux kernel's power supply charger-manager driver (drivers/power/supply/charger-manager.c). In is_full_charged(), the reference to the fuel-gauge power supply obtained via power_supply_get_by_name() is not released with power_supply_put() when the full-battery voltage check (uV >= desc->fullbatt_uV) succeeds, so the reference leaks each time that check passes. A local attacker able to trigger repeated charger-manager battery-status evaluations could use this resource leak to exhaust kernel memory resources and cause a denial of service (system instability or crash). Red Hat rates this flaw Moderate severity with a CVSS:3.1 base score of 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), reflecting the local attack vector and the availability-only impact. The vulnerable code was introduced upstream in Linux kernel 5.10. All Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 streams (including the kernel and kernel-rt components) and all Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2 streams (kernel and kernel-ivos-qualcomm components) are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in the shipped kernels, so no Red Hat product update is required for this issue.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)
An adversary that can cause a resource counter to become inaccurate may be able to create situations where resources are not accounted for and not released, thus causing resources to become scarce for future needs.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An adversary that can cause a resource counter to become inaccurate may be able to force an error that causes the product to crash or exit out of its current operation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
