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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-23161: Linux kernel · mm/shmem, swap: fix race of truncate and swap entry split

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

0

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.3 High · fixed in 6.17.0-1021.21~24.04.1 : patch Linux kernel soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
7.3High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
EPSS
0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 0% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch
Available – fixed in 6.17.0-1021.21~24.04.1, 6.17.0-1021.24~24.04.1, 6.17.0-41.41~24.04.1 +4
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 14 Feb 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed release listed under Affected software.

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Ubuntu 25.10linuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.14.0-15.15 – 6.17.0-40.40
20 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 25.10linux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.14.0-1005.5 – 6.17.0-1019.19
17 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 25.10linux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.14.0-1004.4 – 6.17.0-1020.20
16 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 25.10linux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1003.3 – 6.17.0-1017.17
10 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 25.10linux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.14.0-1006.6 – 6.17.0-1020.22
17 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 25.10linux-oraclepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-oracle?arch=source&distro=questingOther threatsAffected
  • 6.14.0-1005.5 – 6.17.0-1018.18
16 affected builds
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/shmem, swap: fix race of truncate and swap entry split The helper for shmem swap freeing is not handling the order of swap entries correctly. It uses xa_cmpxchg_irq to erase the swap entry, but it gets the entry order before that using xa_get_order without lock protection, and it may get an outdated order value if the entry is split or changed in other ways after the xa_get_order and before the xa_cmpxchg_irq. And besides, the order could grow and be larger than expected, and cause truncation to erase data beyond the end border. For example, if the target entry and following entries are swapped in or freed, then a large folio was added in place and swapped out, using the same entry, the xa_cmpxchg_irq will still succeed, it's very unlikely to happen though. To fix that, open code the Xarray cmpxchg and put the order retrieval and value checking in the same critical section. Also, ensure the order won't exceed the end border, skip it if the entry goes across the border. Skipping large swap entries crosses the end border is safe here. Shmem truncate iterates the range twice, in the first iteration, find_lock_entries already filtered such entries, and shmem will swapin the entries that cross the end border and partially truncate the folio (split the folio or at least zero part of it). So in the second loop here, if we see a swap entry that crosses the end order, it must at least have its content erased already. I observed random swapoff hangs and kernel panics when stress testing ZSWAP with shmem. After applying this patch, all problems are gone.

References

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