Use-After-Free in Kernel (CVE-2026-23270)
Summary
Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2026-23270). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Mitigation: upgrade to 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: Only allow act_ct to bind to clsact/ingress qdiscs and shared blocks
As Paolo said earlier [1]:
"Since the blamed commit below, classify can return TC_ACT_CONSUMED while
the current skb being held by the defragmentation engine. As reported by
GangMin Kim, if such packet is that may cause a UaF when the defrag engine
later on tries to tuch again such packet."
act_ct was never meant to be used in the egress path, however some users
are attaching it to egress today [2]. Attempting to reach a middle
ground, we noticed that, while most qdiscs are not handling
TC_ACT_CONSUMED, clsact/ingress qdiscs are. With that in mind, we
address the issue by only allowing act_ct to bind to clsact/ingress
qdiscs and shared blocks. That way it's still possible to attach act_ct to
egress (albeit only with clsact).
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/674b8cbfc385c6f37fb29a1de08d8fe5c2b0fbee.1771321118.git.pabeni@redhat.com/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/cc6bfb4a-4a2b-42d8-b9ce-7ef6644fb22b@ovn.org/
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD GitHub Advisory
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-23270 has been found in Kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2026-23270" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-23270 (Kernel) — CWE-416 / CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8 — apply immediately
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
Use-after-free (CWE-416) exists in Kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Kernel' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'Kernel' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
Kernelを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Apply patch patch
Upgrade Kernel to 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8ステージング環境で 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.18, 6.19.8 に上げて回帰テスト → 本番反映。回帰テストはアプリの主要ハッピーパスを含めること。
-
3Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Affected packages
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- BellSoft Alpaquita BELL-CVE-2026-23270 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.1.167-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23270 linux Fixed in: 6.1.170-1
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23270 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory github.com
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web cert-portal.siemens.com
- web cert-portal.siemens.com
- web github.com
- web cert-portal.siemens.com
- web cert-portal.siemens.com