The ecryptfs module in the Linux kernel incorrectly retains a message context when a send operation to the userspace daemon fails. The context is moved from the free list to the allocated list the operation fails, causing a leak of the resource. Repeated failures can exhaust the pool of message contexts, preventing further ecryptfs operations and resulting in a denial of service. The weakness is an improper release of resources (CWE‑772).

All Linux kernel builds that include the ecryptfs filesystem are affected, regardless of distribution. This includes major distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL, CentOS, and Fedora. No specific kernel version number is given in the advisory, so the issue exists in any kernel containing the described code path until it is updated with the patch.

The CVSS score is 5.5, indicating moderate severity, and the EPSS score is less than 1%, implying a low probability of exploitation. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, and there is no evidence of widespread exploitation. The likely attack vector is local or privileged; an attacker would need to trigger send failures to the ecryptfs userspace daemon, which may be achieved by a misbehaving application or a local attacker with sufficient permissions. Consequently, while the impact is limited to availability, the threat remains moderate but exploitable under the right conditions.