#VU124443 Double Free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-23394
Published: March 25, 2026
Linux kernel
Linux Foundation
Description
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a race condition in the af_unix garbage collection mechanism when handling MSG_PEEK system calls. A local user can send a specially crafted sequence of system calls involving MSG_PEEK and socket closure to trigger incorrect garbage collection of active Unix domain sockets, leading to a denial of service.
The issue arises when MSG_PEEK increases a file reference count without synchronizing with garbage collection, causing the collector to incorrectly identify live sockets as dead and purge their receive queues.