HighCVE-2026-53270

    Linux Kernel: Use After Free (CVE-2026-53270)

    Published Last modified Sources: SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian LTS, HKCERT, BSI, Red Hat, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide

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    What is affected, what to do

    A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IP Virtual Server (IPVS) component. During the `ip_vs_edit_service()` operation, the `svc->scheduler` pointer is cleared too late when unbinding an old scheduler.

    The available sources name no fixed version. Check the vendor guidance in the references below.

    Conflicting version data — version display is hidden until the data is resolved.

    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: Vendor (CNA), CVSS v3

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: SUSE, Ubuntu, Debian LTS, HKCERT, BSI, Red Hat, CVE.org, Msrc Update Guide

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 4.8

    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
    58.44 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
    0.2 %
    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
    4.8
    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
    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-416

    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's IP Virtual Server (IPVS) component. During the `ip_vs_edit_service()` operation, the `svc->scheduler` pointer is cleared too late when unbinding an old scheduler. This improper handling allows packets to access previously freed scheduler data, leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. This can result in system instability or a denial of service.

    Source: suse_csaf, Ubuntu Security Notices, Debian LTS Advisories, HKCERT (CC BY 3.0 HK) · HKCERT rating: medium, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, redhat_csaf, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE), cvelistv5, Microsoft Security Update Guide

    Affected products

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

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 4.2 – < 5.10.259
    • 3.18.23 – < 3.19
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.94
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.36
    • 5.11 – < 5.15.210
    • 4.1.11 – < 4.2
    • —
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.176
    • 6.19 – < 7.0.13
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.143
    • 5.10.259
    • 3.19
    • 6.12.94
    • 6.18.36
    • 5.15.210
    • 4.2
    • 7.1
    • 6.1.176
    • 7.0.13
    • 6.6.143

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxdebianlinuxbookworm
    Linuxdebianlinuxbullseye
    Linuxubuntulinuxnoble
    Linuxdebianlinux-6.1bullseye
    Linuxubuntulinux-awsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-aws-fipsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azurenoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fdenoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fde-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-azure-fipsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-fipsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcpnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcp-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-gcp-fipsnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-gkenoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-gkeopnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-ibmnoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-ibm-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-lowlatencynoble
    Linuxubuntulinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-nvidiajammy
    Linuxubuntulinux-nvidianoble

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-416Use After Free

      Variant

      The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-416

    References & sources

    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).

    1. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      Weakness type: CWE-416

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-416

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

    2. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 24 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14e4689c113b4c06af1069364ade24fdd7055f33
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/193989cc6d80dd8e0460fb3992e69fa03bf0ff9b
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19a9493faa4bf3c7bd0a386f30b60b1bb4a3da03
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25918720ba97f974a4f8d433b5a0132c5b43f6f3
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d4f5004511757e3984901ffb412fcf858d80ed5
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6376b9b1b4d2bad638256b1b3588e073344ae69
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d10730a1f2caf08088e0db1b19b242f3e6fa5f06
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4feec3174036ba772006be74beee0efa09a9eb8
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14e4689c113b4c06af1069364ade24fdd7055f33
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/193989cc6d80dd8e0460fb3992e69fa03bf0ff9b
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19a9493faa4bf3c7bd0a386f30b60b1bb4a3da03
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25918720ba97f974a4f8d433b5a0132c5b43f6f3
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d4f5004511757e3984901ffb412fcf858d80ed5
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6376b9b1b4d2bad638256b1b3588e073344ae69
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d10730a1f2caf08088e0db1b19b242f3e6fa5f06
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4feec3174036ba772006be74beee0efa09a9eb8
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14e4689c113b4c06af1069364ade24fdd7055f33 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/193989cc6d80dd8e0460fb3992e69fa03bf0ff9b Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19a9493faa4bf3c7bd0a386f30b60b1bb4a3da03 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25918720ba97f974a4f8d433b5a0132c5b43f6f3 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d4f5004511757e3984901ffb412fcf858d80ed5 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6376b9b1b4d2bad638256b1b3588e073344ae69 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d10730a1f2caf08088e0db1b19b242f3e6fa5f06 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4feec3174036ba772006be74beee0efa09a9eb8 Types: Patch
      —

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    3. Record modifiedCISA ADP

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

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-53270","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-16T15:28:13.169684Z"}

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

    4. Initial analysis by NVDNVD

      Newly listed as affected:
      • Linux Kernel (4.1.11 – before 4.2; 3.18.23 – before 3.19; 5.16 – before 6.1.176; 6.2 – before 6.6.143; 5.11 – before 5.15.210; 6.13 – before 6.18.36; 6.7 – before 6.12.94; 6.19 – before 7.0.13; 4.2.1 – before 5.10.259; 11 individual versions)
      Show 10 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      NVD-CWE-noinfo
      Product configurationadded
      —
      OR *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.2:rc8:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.2:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.2:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.2:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 4.1.11 up to (excluding) 4.2 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.18.23 up to (excluding) 3.19 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:4.2:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *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) 5.16 up to (excluding) 6.1.176 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.2 up to (excluding) 6.6.143 *cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 5.11 up to (excluding) 5.15.210 *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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 4.2.1 up to (excluding) 5.10.259
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/14e4689c113b4c06af1069364ade24fdd7055f33 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/193989cc6d80dd8e0460fb3992e69fa03bf0ff9b Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/19a9493faa4bf3c7bd0a386f30b60b1bb4a3da03 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/25918720ba97f974a4f8d433b5a0132c5b43f6f3 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d4f5004511757e3984901ffb412fcf858d80ed5 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c6376b9b1b4d2bad638256b1b3588e073344ae69 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d10730a1f2caf08088e0db1b19b242f3e6fa5f06 Types: Patch
      Reference typeadded
      —
      kernel.org: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4feec3174036ba772006be74beee0efa09a9eb8 Types: Patch

      Source identifier: nvd@nist.gov

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