Linux Kernel up to 6.18.8 swap_space denial of service

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.8. It has been declared as critical. This impacts the function swap_space. Such manipulation leads to denial of service. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-23211. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.8. Affected by this issue is the function swap_space. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a denial of service vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-404. The product does not release or incorrectly releases a resource before it is made available for re-use. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm, swap: restore swap_space attr aviod kernel panic commit 8b47299a411a ("mm, swap: mark swap address space ro and add context debug check") made the swap address space read-only. It may lead to kernel panic if arch_prepare_to_swap returns a failure under heavy memory pressure as follows, el1_abort+0x40/0x64 el1h_64_sync_handler+0x48/0xcc el1h_64_sync+0x84/0x88 errseq_set+0x4c/0xb8 (P) __filemap_set_wb_err+0x20/0xd0 shrink_folio_list+0xc20/0x11cc evict_folios+0x1520/0x1be4 try_to_shrink_lruvec+0x27c/0x3dc shrink_one+0x9c/0x228 shrink_node+0xb3c/0xeac do_try_to_free_pages+0x170/0x4f0 try_to_free_pages+0x334/0x534 __alloc_pages_direct_reclaim+0x90/0x158 __alloc_pages_slowpath+0x334/0x588 __alloc_frozen_pages_noprof+0x224/0x2fc __folio_alloc_noprof+0x14/0x64 vma_alloc_zeroed_movable_folio+0x34/0x44 do_pte_missing+0xad4/0x1040 handle_mm_fault+0x4a4/0x790 do_page_fault+0x288/0x5f8 do_translation_fault+0x38/0x54 do_mem_abort+0x54/0xa8 Restore swap address space as not ro to avoid the panic.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-23211 since 01/13/2026. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 299616 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23211), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch b0020cbd26380177b9fb8b7e75a8f7bdba79db20/a0f3c0845a4ff68d403c568266d17e9cc553e561 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 (299616) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0462). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 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

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

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