HighCVE-2026-53185

Linux Kernel: Use-After-Free (CVE-2026-53185)

Published 25.06.2026Last modified 19.10.2026Sources: SUSE, Ubuntu, BSI, Red Hat, CVE.org

What is affected, what to do

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel, specifically within the zram module. This vulnerability is a use-after-free error, where the system attempts to use a piece of memory after it has been freed.

Update Linux Kernel to version 6.6.143, Linux Kernel to version 6.12.94, Linux Kernel to version 6.18.36.

Affected: Linux Kernel lt 4.14..6.6.143
Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.94
Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.36
Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.0.13
Fixed in: Linux Kernel 6.6.143
Linux Kernel 6.12.94
Linux Kernel 6.18.36
Linux Kernel 7.0.13
Linux Kernel 7.1

Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

Metrics

7.8

Priority

XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

Source: NVD, CVSS v3

7.8

CVSS v3

Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

Source: SUSE, Ubuntu, BSI, Red Hat, CVE.org

0.1 %

EPSS score

Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 1.1

Show all metrics

Severity: High
Priority (0–325) The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first? Read in glossary: 58.31 Methodology
Exploit maturity An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack. Read in glossary: no public PoC known
XIEM Effective CVSS XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command. Read in glossary: 7.8 Methodology
CVSS v3 CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions. Read in glossary: 7.8
EPSS score The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“. Read in glossary: 0.1 %; Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
EPSS percentile The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking. Read in glossary: 1.1; Low — this CVE sits in the lower 10% of all CVEs scored today.
KEV status The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching. Read in glossary: —
Published: 25.06.2026
CISA assessment (SSVC): Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: total; Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 16 October 2026
CWE CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect. Read in glossary: CWE-364

Detection rules

No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

Classification under NIS2 and CRA

Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

NIS2 NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management. Read in glossary: High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
CRA The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates. Read in glossary: From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security. Read in glossary: Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel, specifically within the zram module. This vulnerability is a use-after-free error, where the system attempts to use a piece of memory after it has been freed. This occurs when the `zram_bvec_write_partial()` function allows an asynchronous read to write into a page that has already been deallocated. Such a flaw can lead to system instability, causing crashes, or in some scenarios, could be exploited by a local attacker to escalate privileges or execute arbitrary code.

Source: suse_csaf, Ubuntu Security Notices, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, redhat_csaf, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE)

Affected products

The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

Affected products
		Affected versions	Fixed in
Linux	Linux	`4.14 – < 6.6.143` `6.7 – < 6.12.94` `6.13 – < 6.18.36` `—` `6.19 – < 7.0.13`	`6.6.143` `6.12.94` `6.18.36` `7.1` `7.0.13`
IBM	QRadar SIEM	`< 7.6.0.3` `<7.5.0 UP16 IF01`	`7.6.0.3` —

Vendors and products

Affected operating systems

Affected operating systems

Linux	linux	linux_kernel	`7.1`
Linux	linux	linux_kernel	—

Weakness classes (CWE)

CWE-364Signal Handler Race Condition
Base
The product uses a signal handler that introduces a race condition.
Entry at MITRE CWE-364

References & sources

git.kernel.orgstable/c/0c2821665ff71be3f4b07ecece384669f2877f6aPatch
git.kernel.orgstable/c/77a602b505ce4802915853cfc435a4722fab3e64Patch
git.kernel.orgstable/c/c96786d6ff1acc1d54d9241e97767554c1dfdd5bPatch
git.kernel.orgstable/c/198b5a14cca27263b9c14b20114c8092de15dfcbPatch
git.kernel.orgstable/c/732fd9f0b9c1cdc6dfd77162ded60df005182cc0Patch
access.redhat.comsecurity/cve/CVE-2026-53185Vulnerability database, x_refsource_REDHAT, Third-party advisory
bugzilla.redhat.comRHBZ#2492735Issue tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT, Issue tracking, Third-party advisory
security.access.redhat.comdata/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-53185.jsonx_sadp-csaf-vex, Third-party advisory
access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:59723Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:61887Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:63014Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:63013Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
access.redhat.comerrata/RHSA-2026:65708Vendor advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT

Changes to this CVE

Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

19.10.2026Record modifiedCISA ADP
Weakness type: CWE-364
Show the original change
Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type Action Before After
Weakness type (CWE) added
—
CWE-364
Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Weakness type (CWE)	added	—	CWE-364

16.10.2026Record modifiedCISA ADP

CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: none known, automatable: no

Show the original change

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
SSVC assessment	added	—	{"id":"CVE-2026-53185","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-16T15:26:20.248766Z"}

Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

09.09.2026Record modifiedRed Hat ADP

New references:

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65708

Show 2 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Affected versions (publisher)	added	—	Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/53xxx/CVE-2026-53185.json">CVE-2026-53185</a>
Reference	added	—	https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:65708

Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c

03.09.2026Record modifiedRed Hat ADP

New references:

Show 2 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Reference	added	—	https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:63013
Reference	added	—	https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:63014

Source identifier: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c

06.07.2026Initial analysis by NVDNVD

Newly listed as affected:

Linux Kernel (6.13 – before 6.18.36; 6.7 – before 6.12.94; 6.19 – before 7.0.13; 4.14 – before 6.6.143; 7 individual versions)

Weakness type: CWE-416

New references:

and 4 more references

Show 10 original changes

Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
Type	Action	Before	After
Weakness type (CWE)	added	—	CWE-416
Product configuration	added	—	OR cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc1::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc2::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc3::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc4::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::* versions from (including) 6.13 up to (excluding) 6.18.36 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::* versions from (including) 6.7 up to (excluding) 6.12.94 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::* versions from (including) 6.19 up to (excluding) 7.0.13 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc5::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc6::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.1:rc7::::::* cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::* versions from (including) 4.14 up to (excluding) 6.6.143
Reference type	added	—	kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0c2821665ff71be3f4b07ecece384669f2877f6a Types: Patch
Reference type	added	—	kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/198b5a14cca27263b9c14b20114c8092de15dfcb Types: Patch
Reference type	added	—	kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/732fd9f0b9c1cdc6dfd77162ded60df005182cc0 Types: Patch
Reference type	added	—	kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77a602b505ce4802915853cfc435a4722fab3e64 Types: Patch
Reference type	added	—	kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c96786d6ff1acc1d54d9241e97767554c1dfdd5b Types: Patch
Reference type	added	—	redhat-SADP: https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53185 Types: Third Party Advisory
Reference type	added	—	redhat-SADP: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492735 Types: Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
Reference type	added	—	redhat-SADP: https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-53185.json Types: Third Party Advisory

Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

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