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CVE-2026-52923
ipc: limit next_id allocation to the valid ID range
Published 2026-06-24 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem ipc. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-52923 in every release this site tracks, and what each one means in practice. Every status below is the one the Debian Security Team publishes for this CVE. source
| Release | Status | Version | What this means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 12bookworm | fixedDLA-4665-1 · 2026-07-03 · text | 6.1.176-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. DLA-4665-1 shipped the fix on 2026-07-03, in 6.1.176-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 13trixie | fixed | 6.12.94-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 6.12.94-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.12-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.12-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
The checkpoint/restore sysctl path can request the next SysV IPC id through ids->next_id. ipc_idr_alloc() currently forwards that request to idr_alloc() with an open-ended upper bound. If the valid tail of the SysV IPC id space is full, the allocation can spill beyond ipc_mni. The returned SysV IPC id still uses the normal index encoding, so later lookup and removal can target the wrong slot. This leaves the real IDR entry behind and breaks the IDR state for the object. The bug is in ipc_idr_alloc() in the checkpoint/restore path. 1. ids->next_id is passed to: idr_alloc(&ids->ipcs_idr, new, ipcid_to_idx(next_id), 0, ...) 2. The zero upper bound makes the allocation effectively open-ended. Once the valid SysV IPC tail is occupied, idr_alloc() can spill past ipc_mni and allocate an entry beyond the valid IPC id range. 3. The new object id is still encoded with the narrower SysV IPC index width: new->id = (new->seq << ipcmni_seq_shift()) + idx 4. Later removal goes through ipc_rmid(), which uses: ipcid_to_idx(ipcp->id) That truncates the real IDR index. An object actually stored at a high index can then be removed as if it lived at a low in-range index. 5. For shared memory, shm_destroy() frees the current object anyway, but the real high IDR slot is left behind as a dangling pointer. 6. A subsequent walk of /proc/sysvipc/shm reaches the stale IDR entry and dereferences freed memory. Prevent this by bounding the requested allocation to ipc_mni so the checkpoint/restore path fails once the valid range is exhausted.
Where it lives
The fix touches these files. If the subsystem is one you do not use, the practical exposure is lower, though the package is still the vulnerable one.
ipc/util.c
- What this is
- THE RESTMAINTAINERS section matched on */ · linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org · Buried alive in reporters
Check it on the machine
grep -w CONFIG_SYSVIPC /boot/config-$(uname -r)Reads the booted kernel's own configuration, on the machine and nowhere else. =y is built in, =m is a module, and an is not set line means the code is not there.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this code. Every release below compiles the affected file into the kernels it ships.
- bookworm, trixie, forky, sidy
- y
- built into the kernel image on every flavour - only a patch removes it
- Build switch
- CONFIG_SYSVIPC
From the configuration Debian publishes for every kernel flavour it builds. It covers only the architectures Debian ships a linux-config package for, and nothing about a kernel you built yourself. Debian's own status above stays authoritative about the source package.MAINTAINERS kbuild Makefiles Debian linux-config packages
Signals
- Published
- 2026-06-24 (4 months ago)source
- CVSS
- 7.8 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:Hsource recompute it - Attack vector
- local (AV:L)source
- EPSS
- 0.17%, higher than 5.5% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- ipc
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 3.8 | 5.10.259 | 3bbe2bb9111c |
| 3.8 | 5.15.210 | 8c58a9284917 |
| 3.8 | 6.1.176 | af24e202b543 |
| 3.8 | 6.6.143 | 157ce2c6836c |
| 3.8 | 6.12.93 | 41058d4c3f63 |
| 3.8 | 6.18.35 | a3cc795129e5 |
| 3.8 | 7.0.12 | bd4be70669af |
| 3.8 | 7.1 | fa0b9b2b7ae3 |
Debian advisories
| Advisory | Date | Shipped to | Debian |
|---|---|---|---|
| DLA-4671-1 | 2026-07-05 | bullseye 6.1.176-1~deb11u1 | tracker |
| DLA-4665-1 | 2026-07-03 | bookworm 6.1.176-1 | tracker |
| DLA-4664-1 | 2026-07-03 | bullseye 5.10.259-1 | tracker |
Why the CNA scored it this way
Quoted from the kernel CNA's own scoring file, word for word. A highlighted metric carries the most severe value CVSS v3.1 defines for it, which is what pushes the score up. source
- AV:LAttack vector, local
- The vulnerable path is reached through local SysV IPC syscalls plus writes to `/proc/sys/kernel/*_next_id`, not through network or physical input.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- The attacker controls the sysctl value, IPC allocation pattern, removal, and proc/syscall enumeration needed to trigger the stale IDR pointer; filling the valid ID tail is resource-intensive but deterministic.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- A basic local user can reasonably reach this via unprivileged user namespaces by creating a user/IPC namespace and gaining the namespace capabilities needed for the checkpoint/restore sysctls.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim action is required after the local attacker runs the sysctl and SysV IPC operations.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- This is a standard kernel memory corruption/local privilege escalation class issue within the same kernel security authority.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- The bug leaves a freed SysV IPC object reachable through the IDR, producing a kernel use-after-free; UAFs are scored as high confidentiality impact because reclaimed kernel heap contents can be exposed or used for read primitives.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- The stale pointer/use-after-free can plausibly be exploited through heap reuse for kernel memory corruption and control-flow or object manipulation, so integrity impact is high.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Even without full exploitation, walking `/proc/sysvipc/shm` or related enumeration can dereference freed memory and crash or hang the kernel.