Linux Kernel up to 6.18.32/7.0.9 drm drm_prime.c dmabufs privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.32/7.0.9. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the file drivers/gpu/drm/drm_prime.c of the component drm. This manipulation of the argument dmabufs causes an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2026-52966. No exploit exists. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.32/7.0.9 and classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file drivers/gpu/drm/drm_prime.c of the component drm. The manipulation of the argument dmabufs with an unknown input leads to a unknown weakness. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm: Replace old pointer to new idr Commit 5e28b7b94408 introduced a logical error by failing to replace the newly generated IDR pointer to old id's pointer at the correct location within the "change handle" logic; this resulted in the issue reported by syzbot [1]. Specifically, the new IDR object pointer is intended to replace the original id's pointer during the normal execution flow. Additionally, an unnecessary conditional check for the ret exit path has been removed. [1] !RB_EMPTY_ROOT(&prime_fpriv->dmabufs) WARNING: drivers/gpu/drm/drm_prime.c:224 at drm_prime_destroy_file_private+0x48/0x60 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_prime.c:224, CPU#0: syz.0.17/5833 Call Trace: drm_file_free.part.0+0x7e6/0xcc0 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_file.c:269 drm_file_free drivers/gpu/drm/drm_file.c:237 [inline] drm_close_helper.isra.0+0x186/0x200 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_file.c:290 drm_release+0x1ab/0x360 drivers/gpu/drm/drm_file.c:438

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-52966 since 06/09/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 07/18/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 323533 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-52966), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.33 or 7.0.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 318b995cffcfcaa69a234d28123a3f4ae186a9df/38f12d0e10d83b66fa1466400d876a3a8da31542/dc366607c41c45fd0ae6f3db090f31dd611b644a 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 (323533) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-2077). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• Open Source Linux Kernel
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Oracle Linux

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
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3
• 7.0.4
• 7.0.5
• 7.0.6
• 7.0.7
• 7.0.8
• 7.0.9

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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