What is CVE-2026-22994?

CVE-2026-22994 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 5.18 onward and patched in 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66 and others. CVE-2026-22994 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-22994?

CVE-2026-22994 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-22994?

Yes, CVE-2026-22994 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.18 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-22994 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-22994 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-22994

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix reference count leak in bpf_prog_test_run_xdp() syzbot is reporting unregister_netdevice: waiting for sit0 to become free. Usage count = 2 problem. A debug printk() patch found that a refcount is obtained at xdp_convert_md_to_buff() from bpf_prog_test_run_xdp(). According to commit ec94670fcb3b ("bpf: Support specifying ingress via xdp_md context in BPF_PROG_TEST_RUN"), the refcount obtained by xdp_convert_md_to_buff() will be released by xdp_convert_buff_to_md(). Therefore, we can consider that the error handling path introduced by commit 1c1949982524 ("bpf: introduce frags support to bpf_prog_test_run_xdp()") forgot to call xdp_convert_buff_to_md().

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-01-23

Last modified 2026-02-26

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

5.5

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.18 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66, 6.18.6, 6.19 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 5.18

Fixed in

✓ 6.1.161 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.121 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.66 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.6 6.18.x ✓ 6.19

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-22994 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/368569bc546d3368ee9980ba79fc42fdff9a3365
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/737be05a765761d7d7c9f7fe92274bd8e6f6951e
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/98676ee71fd4eafeb8be63c7f3f1905d40e03101
Patch

5 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-22994

Severity Medium

CVSS score 5.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-01-23

Modified 2026-02-26

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-22994?

CVE-2026-22994 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.18 onward and has been patched in 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66 and others. CVE-2026-22994 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-22994?

CVE-2026-22994 has a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-22994?

Yes — CVE-2026-22994 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.1.161, 6.6.121, 6.12.66 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.18 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-22994 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2026-22994 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.