Exposed IOCTL with Insufficient Access Control in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23257

 

Exposed IOCTL with Insufficient Access Control in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23257

Published: March 20, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU124191
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 4.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-23257
CWE-ID: CWE-782
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability exists due to an off-by-one error in the PF setup_nic_devices() function in the liquidio network driver when handling device initialization cleanup. A local user can trigger improper cleanup of allocated resources to cause a denial of service.

The vulnerability specifically results in a memory leak during device setup failure, which may lead to resource exhaustion over time. Administrative privileges are required to trigger the device setup process.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-xilinx-zynqmp (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle-5.15 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package)
linux-fips (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-nvidia-6.8 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-23257

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.183.154, 5.15.0-183.193, 5.15.0-183.193~20.04.1, 5.15.0.185.108, 5.15.0.185.166, 5.15.0-185.195+fips1, 5.15.0-185.195~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1052.52, 5.15.0.1052.54, 5.15.0-1063.63, 5.15.0-1063.63~20.04.1, 5.15.0.1094.93, 5.15.0-1094.102, 5.15.0.1103.99, 5.15.0-1103.105, 5.15.0.1103.107, 5.15.0-1103.108, 5.15.0.1105.102, 5.15.0.1105.109, 5.15.0-1105.109~20.04.1, 5.15.0.1106.105, 5.15.0.1106.106, 5.15.0-1106.107, 5.15.0-1106.112, 5.15.0.1107.106, 5.15.0-1107.113, 5.15.0.1108.104, 5.15.0-1108.114, 5.15.0.1110.114, 5.15.0-1110.119, 5.15.0.1111.101, 5.15.0.1111.107, 5.15.0.1111.108, 5.15.0.1111.114, 5.15.0-1111.118, 5.15.0-1111.118+fips1, 5.15.0-1111.118~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1111.121, 5.15.0-1111.121+fips1, 5.15.0.1116.114, 5.15.0-1116.125, 5.15.0-1116.125~20.04.1, 6.8.0-117.117, 6.8.0-117.117.1, 6.8.0-117.117.1~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1041.44, 6.8.0-1054.60, 6.8.0-1055.56, 6.8.0-1055.56~22.04.1, 6.8.0-1055.58+fips1, 6.8.0-1056.60, 6.8.0-1058.61, 6.8.0-1058.61+fips1, 6.8.0-2045.46, 6.8.1-1051.52, 6.8.1-1051.52~22.04.1
linux-xilinx-zynqmp (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1074.77, 5.15.0-1074.78
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1105.103, 5.15.0-1105.108
linux-gcp-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1106.112~20.04.1, 5.15.0-1111.121~20.04.1
linux-oracle-5.15 (Ubuntu package) - update to 5.15.0-1108.114~20.04.1
linux-azure-fips (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0.1116.101, 5.15.0-1116.125+fips1
linux-fips (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-116.116+fips1
linux-nvidia-tegra (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1024.24
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 6.8.0-1054.57, 6.8.0-1054.57.1
linux-nvidia-6.8 (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1054.57~22.04.1
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - update to 6.8.0-1056.62

External References

Related Security Bulletins