Linux Kernel NFC NXP-NCI Potential Memory Leak Vulnerability

A memory leak vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel's NFC subsystem, specifically within the NXP-NCI driver. The issue arises in the 'nxp_nci_send()' function, which calls 'nxp_nci_i2c_write()' to send data over I2C. The vulnerability occurs because the 'nxp_nci_send()' function only frees the socket buffer (skb) when 'nxp_nci_i2c_write()' fails. If 'nxp_nci_i2c_write()' succeeds, the skb is not freed, leading to a memory leak. To address this, 'nxp_nci_send()' should be modified to free the skb even when 'nxp_nci_i2c_write()' is successful.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability leads to a memory leak, where allocated memory is not properly released, potentially causing increased memory usage and degradation of system performance over time.