CVE-2026-72376

A flaw was found in the Andrew File System (AFS) component of the Linux kernel. An issue exists where the net->cells_outstanding counter is incremented before a necessary failure check during idr_alloc_cyclic() operations. This can lead to the counter being incorrectly incremented even when an error occurs, potentially causing a resource leak and impacting system stability or availability.

A low impact flaw was found in the Andrew File System (AFS) implementation of the Linux kernel, affecting the kernel and kernel-rt packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10 and the kernel packages in Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2. When an AFS cell is created, the net->cells_outstanding counter is incremented before the result of idr_alloc_cyclic() is checked, so if that allocation fails the counter remains incorrectly incremented, causing a resource leak that can impact system availability. Confidentiality and integrity are not affected. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, and 8 are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those streams. Although AFS is a network filesystem, this flaw is in the local AFS cell setup path: Red Hat rates it with a local attack vector and low privileges required (CVSS 3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, score 5.5). Given the low impact and the fact that exploitation requires reaching the AFS cell allocation failure path, the fix for the affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, 10, and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2 streams has been deferred; the residual risk is limited to a local, availability-only impact.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

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.