Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-23306

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: pm8001: Fix use-after-free in pm8001_queue_command() Commit e29c47fe8946 ("scsi: pm8001: Simplify pm8001_task_exec()") refactors pm8001_queue_command(), however it introduces a potential cause of a double free scenario when it changes the function to return -ENODEV in case of phy down/device gone state. In this path, pm8001_queue_command() updates task status and calls task_done to indicate to upper layer that the task has been handled. However, this also frees the underlying SAS task. A -ENODEV is then returned to the caller. When libsas sas_ata_qc_issue() receives this error value, it assumes the task wasn't handled/queued by LLDD and proceeds to clean up and free the task again, resulting in a double free. Since pm8001_queue_command() handles the SAS task in this case, it should return 0 to the caller indicating that the task has been handled.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (2.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 2nd percentile — 2.0% 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-2026-23306: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: 0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions e29c47fe8946cc732b0e0d393b65b13c84bb69d0, 5.18, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23306?
CVE-2026-23306 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-03-25.
How severe is CVE-2026-23306?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.