CVE-2026-23352

Medium

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/efi: defer freeing of boot services memory efi_free_boot_services() frees memory occupied by EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE and EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_DATA using memblock_free_late(). There are two issue with that: memblock_free_late() should be used for memory allocated with memblock_alloc() while the memory reserved with memblock_reserve() should be freed with free_reserved_area(). More acutely, with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT=y efi_free_boot_services() is called before deferred initialization of the memory map is complete. Benjamin Herrenschmidt reports that this causes a leak of ~140MB of RAM on EC2 t3a.nano instances which only have 512MB or RAM. If the freed memory resides in the areas that memory map for them is still uninitialized, they won't be actually freed because memblock_free_late() calls memblock_free_pages() and the latter skips uninitialized pages. Using free_reserved_area() at this point is also problematic because __free_page() accesses the buddy of the freed page and that again might end up in uninitialized part of the memory map. Delaying the entire efi_free_boot_services() could be problematic because in addition to freeing boot services memory it updates efi.memmap without any synchronization and that's undesirable late in boot when there is concurrency. More robust approach is to only defer freeing of the EFI boot services memory. Split efi_free_boot_services() in two. First efi_unmap_boot_services() collects ranges that should be freed into an array then efi_free_boot_services() later frees them after deferred init is complete.

Package Linux Kernel
Published 2026-03-25
Last modified 2026-04-24
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

Weakness type

CWE-401

CVE-2026-23352 is a Memory Leak vulnerability

What is Memory Leak?

The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 2.6.39.1, 3.0 and later are affected. Fixed in 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0 and their respective stable series.

Affected from
≥ 2.6.39.1 ≥ 3.0
Fixed in
✓ 2.6.39.2 2.6.x ✓ 5.10.253 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.203 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.167 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.130 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.77 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.17 6.18.x ✓ 6.19.7 6.19.x ✓ 7.0

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-23352 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is CVE-2026-23352?

    CVE-2026-23352 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 5.5 out of 10 , classified as a Memory Leak flaw (CWE-401) . It affects Linux kernel versions from 2.6.39.1 onward and has been patched in 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203 and others. CVE-2026-23352 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

  • What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-23352?

    CVE-2026-23352 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-2026-23352?

    Yes — CVE-2026-23352 has been patched. Fixed versions include 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 2.6.39.1 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

  • Is CVE-2026-23352 actively exploited?

    No — CVE-2026-23352 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.

  • What is Memory Leak (CWE-401)?

    The product does not release memory after use, causing gradual resource exhaustion. View CWE-401 on MITRE CWE →