CyberRota Analysis
AI-GeneratedThe vulnerability affects the Linux kernel's handling of the ax88179_178a USB network driver, specifically when the NETIF_F_SG feature is enabled. A failure in the skb_linearize() function leads to a memory leak, as the original socket buffer (skb) is not freed when a NULL return is encountered. Organizations using affected Linux systems, particularly those relying on this driver for network functionality, should prioritize addressing this issue to prevent potential memory exhaustion under high traffic conditions.
Original NVD Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: usb: ax88179_178a: fix skb leak in ax88179_tx_fixup() When the interface has NETIF_F_SG enabled and skb_linearize() fails in ax88179_tx_fixup(), the function returns NULL without freeing the skb. usbnet_start_xmit() treats a NULL return from tx_fixup() as a drop (info->flags does not set FLAG_MULTI_PACKET for this driver), jumping to the "drop" label where it does `if (skb) dev_kfree_skb_any(skb)`. Because tx_fixup() returned NULL, the local skb variable in usbnet_start_xmit() is NULL, so the original skb is never freed — a memory leak on every TX frame whose linearization fails (i.e. under memory pressure). Free the skb before returning, matching the error handling already used for the pskb_expand_head() failure path in the same function.