Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9 ceph kfree denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9 and classified as critical. This affects the function kfree of the component ceph. Executing a manipulation can lead to denial of service. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-23201. There is no exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.69/6.18.9. It has been declared as critical. This vulnerability affects the function kfree of the component ceph. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. As an impact it is known to affect availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ceph: fix oops due to invalid pointer for kfree() in parse_longname() This fixes a kernel oops when reading ceph snapshot directories (.snap), for example by simply running `ls /mnt/my_ceph/.snap`. The variable str is guarded by __free(kfree), but advanced by one for skipping the initial '_' in snapshot names. Thus, kfree() is called with an invalid pointer. This patch removes the need for advancing the pointer so kfree() is called with correct memory pointer. Steps to reproduce: 1. Create snapshots on a cephfs volume (I've 63 snaps in my testcase) 2. Add cephfs mount to fstab $ echo "[email protected]=/volumes/datapool/stuff/3461082b-ecc9-4e82-8549-3fd2590d3fb6 /mnt/test/stuff ceph acl,noatime,_netdev 0 0" >> /etc/fstab 3. Reboot the system $ systemctl reboot 4. Check if it's really mounted $ mount | grep stuff 5. List snapshots (expected 63 snapshots on my system) $ ls /mnt/test/stuff/.snap Now ls hangs forever and the kernel log shows the oops.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-23201 since 01/13/2026. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299103 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23201), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.70 or 6.18.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8c9af7339de419819cfc641d551675d38ff99abf/e258ed369c9e04caa7d2fd49785d753ae4034cb6/bc8dedae022ce3058659c3addef3ec4b41d15e00 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (299103), EUVD (EUVD-2026-5844) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0421). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Google Container-Optimized OS
• Debian Linux
• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• IBM QRadar SIEM

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.12.67
• 6.12.68
• 6.12.69
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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