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CVE-2026-53009
ice: fix double-free of tx_buf skb
Published 2026-06-24 (4 months ago) by the Linux kernel CNA. Subsystem drivers/net. Debian urgency: not yet assigned.
What to do, per Debian release
Debian's own status for CVE-2026-53009 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 | vulnerable | 6.1.190-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series bookworm tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for bookworm have historically landed a median of 23 days after publication. |
| Debian 13trixie | vulnerable | 6.12.113-1 | No fix published anywhere yet, neither in Debian nor upstream for the series trixie tracks. Watch the Debian tracker page for this CVE. Advisories for trixie have historically landed a median of 11 days after publication. |
| Debian 14forky | fixed | 7.0.10-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
| Debian unstablesid | fixed | 7.0.10-1 | Update the kernel and reboot. Fixed in 7.0.10-1. A running kernel keeps the old code until the machine restarts. |
The vulnerability
What the bug is
If ice_tso() or ice_tx_csum() fail, the error path in ice_xmit_frame_ring() frees the skb, but the 'first' tx_buf still points to it and is marked as valid (ICE_TX_BUF_SKB). 'next_to_use' remains unchanged, so the potential problem will likely fix itself when the next packet is transmitted and the tx_buf gets overwritten. But if there is no next packet and the interface is brought down instead, ice_clean_tx_ring() -> ice_unmap_and_free_tx_buf() will find the tx_buf and free the skb for the second time. The fix is to reset the tx_buf type to ICE_TX_BUF_EMPTY in the error path, so that ice_unmap_and_free_tx_buf(). Move the initialization of 'first' up, to ensure it's already valid in case we hit the linearization error path. The bug was spotted by AI while I had it looking for something else. It also proposed an initial version of the patch. I reproduced the bug and tested the fix by adding code to inject failures, on a build with KASAN. I looked for similar bugs in related Intel drivers and did not find any.
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.
drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ice/ice_txrx.c
- What this is
- INTEL ETHERNET DRIVERSMAINTAINERS section matched on drivers/net/ethernet/intel/*/ · intel-wired-lan@lists.osuosl.org · Maintained
- Kernel module
- ice
Check it on the machine
grep -wE 'CONFIG_ETHERNET|CONFIG_ICE|CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_INTEL' /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.
lsmod | grep -w icePrints a line if that module is loaded right now, and nothing if it is not. One that is not loaded can still be loaded later by anything that needs it.
Show whether Debian builds this, per release
Debian builds this, but not on every flavour. At least one release below builds the code on some of its kernel flavours and not on others, so the answer depends on the architecture and flavour installed.
- bookwormMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64
- trixieMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64, armel/rpi
- forky, sidMnot built on amd64/cloud-amd64, arm64/cloud-arm64
- M
- a module where it is built at all; some flavours do not build it
- Build switches
- CONFIG_ETHERNET, CONFIG_ICE, CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_INTEL
- Reads as
- all on means the file is compiled; any one off means it is not.
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
- 0.14%, higher than 2.9% of all CVEssource
- CISA KEV
- not listedthe KEV catalogue
- Debian urgency
- not yet assignedsource
- Subsystem
- drivers/net
Upstream fixes
The versions the CNA records as introducing and fixing this, and the commit for each. source
| Introduced | Fixed in | Commit |
|---|---|---|
| 4.17 | 6.18.57 | 910e498613d5 |
| 4.17 | 7.0.10 | 4c08fc2119ef |
| 4.17 | 7.1 | 1a303baa715e |
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 code is in the ice driver's local transmit path reached through socket/netdev transmission, not by parsing received network packets directly. A remote peer may induce ordinary replies, but the malformed/offload-error SKB state needed for this bug is locally generated.
- AC:LAttack complexity, low
- There is no race; once an attacker can create an SKB that makes ice_tso() or ice_tx_csum() fail, the stale tx_buf state is deterministic. In a controlled netdev namespace or delegated ice/SF deployment, the attacker can also quiesce/bring down the interface before the next packet overwrites the slot.
- PR:LPrivileges required, low
- The strongest reasonable path requires local ability to generate crafted/offloaded transmit SKBs and control the affected netdev lifecycle, which can be namespace-level CAP_NET_ADMIN over a delegated ice netdev rather than host init-namespace root. It is therefore more than unauthenticated remote access but not necessarily high host administrator privilege.
- UI:NUser interaction, none
- No victim user action is required in the attacker-controlled local scenario; the attacker can send the triggering packet and then cause cleanup. The bug is completed by driver cleanup, not by a separate user opening or mounting content.
- S:UScope, unchanged
- The corruption occurs within the host kernel/driver memory management context and affects the same security authority. This is not a KVM guest-to-host, IOMMU, or separate-scope boundary bypass.
- C:HConfidentiality impact, high
- This is a double-free of an skb pointer retained in the TX ring, a heap memory corruption condition equivalent to a use-after-free primitive. Such corruption can plausibly be shaped into kernel memory disclosure.
- I:HIntegrity impact, high
- A double-free of a kernel heap object can corrupt allocator metadata or a reallocated object and can plausibly be leveraged for arbitrary write or control-flow impact. Under the required conservative scoring rule, this warrants high integrity impact.
- A:HAvailability impact, high
- Even without full exploitation, the second dev_kfree_skb_any() on an already freed skb can trigger allocator/KASAN/slab corruption detection or a kernel crash. Repeated triggering can therefore cause high availability impact.