Use-After-Free in Kernel (CVE-2026-23340)
Summary
Vulnerability in Kernel (CVE-2026-23340). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. Mitigation: upgrade to 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7 or later.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: sched: avoid qdisc_reset_all_tx_gt() vs dequeue race for lockless qdiscs
When shrinking the number of real tx queues,
netif_set_real_num_tx_queues() calls qdisc_reset_all_tx_gt() to flush
qdiscs for queues which will no longer be used.
qdisc_reset_all_tx_gt() currently serializes qdisc_reset() with
qdisc_lock(). However, for lockless qdiscs, the dequeue path is
serialized by qdisc_run_begin/end() using qdisc->seqlock instead, so
qdisc_reset() can run concurrently with __qdisc_run() and free skbs
while they are still being dequeued, leading to UAF.
This can easily be reproduced on e.g. virtio-net by imposing heavy
traffic while frequently changing the number of queue pairs:
iperf3 -ub0 -c $peer -t 0 &
while :; do
ethtool -L eth0 combined 1
ethtool -L eth0 combined 2
done
With KASAN enabled, this leads to reports like:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __qdisc_run+0x133f/0x1760
...
Call Trace:
...
__qdisc_run+0x133f/0x1760
__dev_queue_xmit+0x248f/0x3550
ip_finish_output2+0xa42/0x2110
ip_output+0x1a7/0x410
ip_send_skb+0x2e6/0x480
udp_send_skb+0xb0a/0x1590
udp_sendmsg+0x13c9/0x1fc0
...
Allocated by task 1270 on cpu 5 at 44.558414s:
...
alloc_skb_with_frags+0x84/0x7c0
sock_alloc_send_pskb+0x69a/0x830
__ip_append_data+0x1b86/0x48c0
ip_make_skb+0x1e8/0x2b0
udp_sendmsg+0x13a6/0x1fc0
...
Freed by task 1306 on cpu 3 at 44.558…
Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD GitHub Advisory OSV
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-2026-23340 has been found in Kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: upgrade Kernel to 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7 or later.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Kernel CVE-2026-23340" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-23340 (Kernel) — CWE-416 / CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
Patched: 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7 — 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 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7.
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 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7ステージング環境で 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7 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-2026-23340 linux-lts Fixed in: 6.1.167-r0
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23340 linux
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23340 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