Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-23240

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tls: Fix race condition in tls_sw_cancel_work_tx() This issue was discovered during a code audit. After cancel_delayed_work_sync() is called from tls_sk_proto_close(), tx_work_handler() can still be scheduled from paths such as the Delayed ACK handler or ksoftirqd. As a result, the tx_work_handler() worker may dereference a freed TLS object. The following is a simple race scenario: cpu0 cpu1 tls_sk_proto_close() tls_sw_cancel_work_tx() tls_write_space() tls_sw_write_space() if (!test_and_set_bit(BIT_TX_SCHEDULED, &tx_ctx->tx_bitmask)) set_bit(BIT_TX_SCHEDULED, &ctx->tx_bitmask); cancel_delayed_work_sync(&ctx->tx_work.work); schedule_delayed_work(&tx_ctx->tx_work.work, 0); To prevent this race condition, cancel_delayed_work_sync() is replaced with disable_delayed_work_sync().

Vulnerability class: Race Condition

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (39.7th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 40th percentile — 39.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-23240: held from 0.005 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions f87e62d45e51b12d48d2cb46b5cde8f83b866bc4, 5.3, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 5.3, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23240?
CVE-2026-23240 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization (Race Condition). CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-03-10.
How severe is CVE-2026-23240?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.