VulnerabilityPublished 23 Oct 2026Updated 24 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-98965: Linux kernel · ice: Restore Ordered MMIO Writes for Tx Doorbells

Affects Linux kernelSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High · fixed in f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365 : patch Linux kernel soon.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:30 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 44% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365, b7725acf9c574debb97ae1613569ac9e148438be, 7a579dec8423bba7bec96fcfcb2e30838b0858ee

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 23 Oct 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.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade Linux kernel to f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365, b7725acf9c574debb97ae1613569ac9e148438be or 7a579dec8423bba7bec96fcfcb2e30838b0858ee.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ ccde82e909467abdf098a8ee6f63e1ecf9a47ce5, < f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365	Fixed in f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ ccde82e909467abdf098a8ee6f63e1ecf9a47ce5, < b7725acf9c574debb97ae1613569ac9e148438be	Fixed in b7725acf9c574debb97ae1613569ac9e148438be
LinuxLinux	Affected ≥ ccde82e909467abdf098a8ee6f63e1ecf9a47ce5, < 7a579dec8423bba7bec96fcfcb2e30838b0858ee	Fixed in 7a579dec8423bba7bec96fcfcb2e30838b0858ee
LinuxLinux	Affected =6.18	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

A fix is available and has been applied in Linux kernel commits f94ab1fffd009250d72c6dc1662cb84467ac5365, b7725acf9c574debb97ae1613569ac9e148438be, and 7a579dec8423bba7bec96fcfcb2e30838b0858ee. Users should update to a patched Linux kernel version that includes these commits to resolve the issue. No other mitigation is required.

Description

CVE-2026-98965 is a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's ICE network driver affecting version 6.18. It involves improper ordering of memory-mapped I/O (MMIO) writes for transmit doorbells on arm64 architectures, leading to a race condition that can cause kernel crashes (BUG_ON). The issue arises because writel_relaxed() does not guarantee ordering between normal memory writes and MMIO writes, potentially causing the NIC to transmit before queue accounting updates are visible. This has been fixed by restoring the use of writel() to ensure proper ordering.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 26 Oct 2026, 09:43 UTC

Technical details

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