Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-53212
Published: June 26, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU135580
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Clear
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-53212
CWE-ID: CWE-416
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Linux Foundation
Affected software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free in nft_tunnel_obj_destroy() in net/netfilter/nft_tunnel.c when processing packets that still hold a reference to metadata_dst after object destruction. A local user can trigger packet queuing and object destruction to cause a denial of service.
Exploitation requires packets to remain queued, such as in a netem qdisc, until they are later dequeued.
How to mitigate CVE-2026-53212
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Sources
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/349df61526d2e39decc685d246202e3e284cfe05
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/55b79b1ae42372012413ce0413181d26679b17ef
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5e9ee18b27fde88cb6148202b33916c66693fe82
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8767fe4079affa74314d7eb3220e700150289842
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/941d7394efda5e054e2d6f3e0dd0f6a9ba19aaa3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c32b26aaa2f9216520a38b3f4bfeec846eb3eb8a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f9a0e4b61054cde89a2a77845293c726cc07cc43
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fda6573a46ad24f35348e024905ee5bdf729797e