CVE-2026-23322
Use-After-Free and List Corruption in Linux IPMI on Sender Error
Publication date: 2026-03-25
Last updated on: 2026-04-23
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux | linux_kernel | 6.18 |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.18.1 (inc) to 6.18.17 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | From 6.19 (inc) to 6.19.7 (exc) |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
| linux | linux_kernel | 7.0 |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-416 | 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 Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer. |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
This vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's IPMI implementation. When the SMI sender returns an error, the function smi_work() attempts to deliver an error response but fails to properly clean up before restarting. Specifically, the current message pointer (curr_msg) is not cleared, causing the same message to be processed repeatedly.
This leads to the same receive message (recv_msg) being added twice to a list (user_msgs), causing list corruption known as a "list_add double add." This corrupted list eventually results in a use-after-free condition when the memory is freed and reused, and can also cause a NULL pointer dereference when accessing recv_msg->done.
The fix involves freeing the message and setting it to NULL on a send error, and always freeing the new message on a send error to prevent memory leaks.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can lead to memory corruption issues such as use-after-free and NULL pointer dereferences within the Linux kernel's IPMI subsystem.
Such memory corruption can cause system instability, crashes, or potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges if exploited.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
The vulnerability is fixed by ensuring that the message is freed and set to NULL on a send error, and by always freeing the new message on a send error to prevent leaks.
Therefore, the immediate mitigation step is to update the Linux kernel to a version where this fix has been applied.