cve 2024 26901

CVE-2024-26901 is a Linux kernel vulnerability disclosed in April 2024 that involves an information leak in the file-handle subsystem. The flaw resides in fs/fhandle.c, where a non-zeroed memory allocation (kmalloc) was used instead of a zeroing allocator (kzalloc). This oversight could allow a local attacker to read up to 20 bytes of uninitialized kernel memory through the name_to_handle_at or open_by_handle_at syscalls. The fix, which replaces kmalloc with kzalloc, is minimal but critical for preventing kernel memory disclosure. While this is a Linux kernel issue, it may affect Windows systems running WSL or virtualized Linux environments, making it relevant for Windows users concerned about security updates in cross-platform scenarios.