The issue causes the IOMMU subsystem to repeatedly reallocate General Address (GA) log buffers during boot‑time and during each resume of the system. After each resume, the previous log buffers are not freed, leaving dangling pointers and leaking memory. Over time, this uncontrolled memory growth can exhaust kernel memory and trigger a kernel out‑of‑memory condition, potentially causing a system crash or service interruption. The core weakness is improper memory handling, which is consistent with a memory‑leak type vulnerability. The fix prevents the buffers from being reallocated when they already exist and clears dangling pointers on failure.

Any Linux kernel version that does not contain the commit that moved GA log allocation to enable_iommus_vapic(). The kernel version before the patch is affected; the fix is available in later releases that include commit c5e1a1eb9279. The affected product is the generic Linux kernel, and no specific vendor version information is provided.

The vulnerability is not tied to a remote attack vector; it is triggered by system resume events, which are typically performed by the operating system or hardware power‑management firmware. Consequently, the likelihood of exploitation is low in a typical environment. However, for systems that resume frequently or are managed remotely, the accumulated memory leakage can lead to denial of service. No EPSS score is provided and the issue is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, indicating limited evidence of active exploitation. The CVSS score is not stated. Despite the low exploit probability, the potential impact on availability warrants prompt remediation.