Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-53046

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix use-after-free from async crypto on Qualcomm crypto engine ksmbd_crypt_message() sets a NULL completion callback on AEAD requests and does not handle the -EINPROGRESS return code from async hardware crypto engines like the Qualcomm Crypto Engine (QCE). When QCE returns -EINPROGRESS, ksmbd treats it as an error and immediately frees the request while the hardware DMA operation is still in flight. The DMA completion callback then dereferences freed memory, causing a NULL pointer crash: pc : qce_skcipher_done+0x24/0x174 lr : vchan_complete+0x230/0x27c ... el1h_64_irq+0x68/0x6c ksmbd_free_work_struct+0x20/0x118 [ksmbd] ksmbd_exit_file_cache+0x694/0xa4c [ksmbd] Use the standard crypto_wait_req() pattern with crypto_req_done() as the completion callback, matching the approach used by the SMB client in fs/smb/client/smb2ops.c. This properly handles both synchronous engines (immediate return) and async engines (-EINPROGRESS followed by callback notification).

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

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: 0.007 (52.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 52nd percentile — 52.1% 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-2026-53046: held from 0.005 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-53046?
CVE-2026-53046 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-06-24.
How severe is CVE-2026-53046?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.