CVE-2026-64218: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: bla: fix report_work leak on backbone_gw purge batadv_bla_purge_backbone

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: bla: fix report_work leak on backbone_gw purge batadv_bla_purge_backbone_gw()

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: batman-adv: bla: fix report_work leak on backbone_gw purge batadv_bla_purge_backbone_gw() removes stale backbone gateway entries, but fails to properly handle their associated report_work: - If report_work is running, the purge must wait for it to finish before freeing the backbone_gw, otherwise the worker may access freed memory (e.g. bat_priv). - If report_work is pending, the purge must cancel it and release the reference held for that pending work item. The previous implementation called hlist_for_each_entry_safe() inside a spin_lock_bh() section, but cancel_work_sync() may sleep and therefore cannot be called from within a spinlock-protected region. Restructure the loop to handle one entry per spinlock critical section: acquire the lock, find the next entry to purge, remove it from the hash list, then release the lock before calling cancel_work_sync() and dropping the hash_entry reference. Repeat until no more entries require purging.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

What it means for a small business

Linux is on the computers, phones or browsers your team uses every day. Turn on automatic updates and restart: most of these fixes only take effect after a restart.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.13%, higher than 2% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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