The vulnerability resides in the Linux kernel’s rxrpc subsystem. When a client call is allocated, the code increments the reference count of the associated key but never decrements it upon call destruction, causing a reference count leak. The leaked key remains visible in /proc/keys, and over time the kernel key table can grow, potentially exhausting kernel resources and degrading system stability. This weakness is a classic reference‑count management flaw, identified as CWE-911, and the CVE is also tagged with NVD‑CWE‑Other, indicating an additional unspecified weakness.

Affected systems include any Linux kernel that incorporates the rxrpc client implementation prior to the patch, specifically kernels 6.2 and the 7.0 release candidates through rc7. All variants declared in the CPE list (linux_kernel) are vulnerable until the fix is applied.

The CVSS score of 5.5 classifies the risk as moderate, while an EPSS score of less than 1% indicates a very low likelihood of exploitation in the wild. The vulnerability is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. The attack vector is inferred to be local or dependent on services that use rxrpc; the leak does not provide direct code execution or remote privilege escalation, but could be leveraged to exhaust the kernel key table. Users should consider the patch as the preferred remediation, and monitor for anomalous key growth if a patch cannot be immediately applied.