Linux Kernel IMA Potential Memory Leak Vulnerability

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel's Integrity Measurement Architecture (IMA) could lead to a memory leak. This issue arises in the 'ima_init_crypto()' function, where the initialization process fails to properly allocate the SHA1 transformation. As a result, IMA cannot complete its initialization and exits without freeing the 'ima_algo_array', creating a potential memory leak. The vulnerability has been addressed by adding the missing 'kfree()' function to release the 'ima_algo_array' and prevent the memory leak.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability could lead to a memory leak, causing increased memory usage and potentially allowing for memory exhaustion over time.