Use-After-Free in Linux kernel (CVE-2026-53109)
Summary
Vulnerability in Linux kernel (CVE-2026-53109). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
powerpc/pgtable-frag: Fix bad page state in pte_frag_destroy
powerpc uses pt_frag_refcount as a reference counter for tracking it's
pte and pmd page table fragments. For PTE table, in case of Hash with
64K pagesize, we have 16 fragments of 4K size in one 64K page.
Patch series [1] "mm: free retracted page table by RCU"
added pte_free_defer() to defer the freeing of PTE tables when
retract_page_tables() is called for madvise MADV_COLLAPSE on shmem
range.
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/7cd843a9-aa80-14f-5eb2-33427363c20@google.com/
pte_free_defer() sets the active flag on the corresponding fragment's
folio & calls pte_fragment_free(), which reduces the pt_frag_refcount.
When pt_frag_refcount reaches 0 (no active fragment using the folio), it
checks if the folio active flag is set, if set, it calls call_rcu to
free the folio, it the active flag is unset then it calls pte_free_now().
Now, this can lead to following problem in a corner case...
[ 265.351553][ T183] BUG: Bad page state in process a.out pfn:20d62
[ 265.353555][ T183] page: refcount:0 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x20d62
[ 265.355457][ T183] flags: 0x3ffff800000100(active|node=0|zone=0|lastcpupid=0x7ffff)
[ 265.358719][ T183] raw: 003ffff800000100 0000000000000000 5deadbeef0000122 0000000000000000
[ 265.360177][ T183] raw: 0000000000000000 c0000000119caf58 00000000ffffffff 0000000000000000
[ 265.361438][ T183]…
Source: GitHub Security Advisories (Global) 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-2026-53109 has been found in Linux kernel.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 7.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Linux kernel CVE-2026-53109" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2026-53109 (Linux kernel) — CWE-416 / CVSS v3 7.8
Attack vector: local / no user interaction
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 Linux kernel.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Linux kernel.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
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. Audit SBOM/dependencies to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
Audit SBOM/dependencies for affected components.資産台帳・SBOM・依存マニフェストで Linux kernel を使っているサービスとバージョンを洗い出す。
-
2Post-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-2026-53109 linux-lts
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53109 linux
- Ubuntu UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53109 linux-hwe-edge
References
- advisory nvd.nist.gov
- advisory github.com
- package git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web git.kernel.org
- web github.com