CVE-2026-53227: Linux kernel · net: openvswitch: fix possible kfree_skb of ERR_PTR
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.5 Medium.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 2% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 25 Jun 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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
AI-suggested
Until an official fix is available, avoid triggering the vulnerable code path or apply any vendor-provided workarounds. Monitor vendor channels for updates.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: fix possible kfree_skb of ERR_PTR After the patch in the "Fixes" tag, the allocation of the "reply" skb can happen either before or after locking the ovs_mutex. However, error cleanups still follow the classical reversed order, assuming "reply" is allocated before locking: it is freed after unlocking. If "reply" allocation happens after locking the mutex and it fails, "reply" is left with an ERR_PTR, and execution jumps to the correspondent cleanup stage which will try to free an invalid pointer. Fix this by setting the pointer to NULL after having saved its error value.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53227 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/0bb5b2dc1b90aa7dd1473fc8c4d813a29255ff8d (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/25fdf53698535fe8790237f5a8a9626791429785 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/895d1dd9057cde1687fa0f4286d47ceed0b82997 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/971b1b37774f13acc5add0a2843f8598446b8598 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e248fb2e680deb2bd37bac551b72638fe4938a76 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3d509a1b71396e1452060dbf84a805fd1c3c549 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ecc55aad3390129a87106841f4b68bf3d70c9264 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ee30dd2909d8b98619f4341c70ec8dc8e155ab02 (opens in a new tab)