Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-53239

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xfrm: policy: fix use-after-free on inexact bin in xfrm_policy_bysel_ctx() Fix the race by pruning the bin while still holding xfrm_policy_lock, before dropping it. Use __xfrm_policy_inexact_prune_bin() directly since the lock is already held. The wrapper xfrm_policy_inexact_prune_bin() becomes unused and is removed. Race: CPU0 (XFRM_MSG_DELPOLICY) CPU1 (XFRM_MSG_NEWSPDINFO) ========================== ========================== xfrm_policy_bysel_ctx(): spin_lock_bh(xfrm_policy_lock) bin = xfrm_policy_inexact_lookup() __xfrm_policy_unlink(pol) spin_unlock_bh(xfrm_policy_lock) xfrm_policy_kill(ret) // wide window, lock not held xfrm_hash_rebuild(): spin_lock_bh(xfrm_policy_lock) __xfrm_policy_inexact_flush(): kfree_rcu(bin) // bin freed spin_unlock_bh(xfrm_policy_lock) xfrm_policy_inexact_prune_bin(bin) // UAF: bin is freed

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 (2.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 2nd percentile — 2.1% 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-2026-53239: held from 0.002 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.001 · change: -0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 6be3b0db6db82cf056a72cc18042048edd27f8ee, 5.0, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-53239?
CVE-2026-53239 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-06-25.
How severe is CVE-2026-53239?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.