CVE-2026-23138

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Add recursion protection in kernel stack trace recording A bug was reported about an infinite recursion caused by tracing the rcu events with the kernel stack trace trigger enabled. The stack trace code called back into RCU which then called the stack trace again. Expand the ftrace recursion protection to add a set of bits to protect events from recursion. Each bit represents the context that the event is in (normal, softirq, interrupt and NMI). Have the stack trace code use the interrupt context to protect against recursion. Note, the bug showed an issue in both the RCU code as well as the tracing stacktrace code. This only handles the tracing stack trace side of the bug. The RCU fix will be handled separately.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-02-14
Last modified 2026-03-25
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 5.8 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.6.130, 6.12.78, 6.18.6, 6.19 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 5.8
Fixed in
✓ 6.6.130 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.78 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.6 6.18.x ✓ 6.19

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-23138 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

4 patch commits total View all on NVD

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2026-23138?

    CVE-2026-23138 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.8 onward and has been patched in 6.6.130, 6.12.78, 6.18.6 and others. CVE-2026-23138 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-23138?

    CVE-2026-23138 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-2026-23138?

    Yes — CVE-2026-23138 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.6.130, 6.12.78, 6.18.6 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2026-23138 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2026-23138 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

Back to
All CVEs
View on
NVD / NIST