Linux Kernel up to 7.0.9 smq_invalidate_mapping use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0.9. This impacts the function smq_invalidate_mapping. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability appears as CVE-2026-53062. There is no available exploit. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.0.9. Affected by this vulnerability is the function smq_invalidate_mapping. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. 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: dm cache policy smq: fix missing locks in invalidating cache blocks In passthrough mode, the policy invalidate_mapping operation is called simultaneously from multiple workers, thus it should be protected by a lock. Otherwise, we might end up with data races on the allocated blocks counter, or even use-after-free issues with internal data structures when doing concurrent writes. Note that the existing FIXME in smq_invalidate_mapping() doesn't affect passthrough mode since migration tasks don't exist there, but would need attention if supporting fast device shrinking via suspend/resume without target reloading. Reproduce steps: 1. Create a cache device consisting of 1024 cache entries dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0" dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192" dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144" dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \ /dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writethrough smq 0" 2. Populate the cache, and record the number of cached blocks fio --name=populate --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --rw=randwrite --bs=4k \ --size=64m --direct=1 nr_cached=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{split($7, a, "/"); print a[1]}') 3. Reload the cache into passthrough mode dmsetup suspend cache dmsetup reload cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \ /dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 passthrough smq 0" dmsetup resume cache 4. Write to the passthrough cache. By setting multiple jobs with I/O size equal to the cache block size, cache blocks are invalidated concurrently from different workers. fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=test --rw=randwrite --bs=64k \ --direct=1 --numjobs=2 --randrepeat=0 --size=64m 5. Check if demoted matches cached block count. These numbers should match but may differ due to the data race. nr_demoted=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{print $12}') echo "$nr_cached, $nr_demoted"

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-53062 since 06/09/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 06/29/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.141, 6.12.91, 6.18.33 or 7.0.10 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 4991b5a08751e2e82488fb93ae08849b6aea10d9/1b2bec4a7dcf5f00b7a1cbeeec8997841d783513/9a5fdfb9e57ec3a8ad2b8fce5e5ffa42d53b130e/ac5ee99443891bdb161f5539606a66a1b5e72542/93627a29d4b66d4a2def938dfb8610cc80ae454b/c348ae47d8e65f06429fa41adce9ad986b696766/2b62d0611c9af14a16bddf22df2612b4f40eb5a1/2d1f7b65f5deedd2e6b09fdc6ea27f8375f24b45 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 vulnerability database at CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-2077). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Affected

• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.257
• 5.15.208
• 6.1.174
• 6.6.140
• 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
• 6.12.70
• 6.12.71
• 6.12.72
• 6.12.73
• 6.12.74
• 6.12.75
• 6.12.76
• 6.12.77
• 6.12.78
• 6.12.79
• 6.12.80
• 6.12.81
• 6.12.82
• 6.12.83
• 6.12.84
• 6.12.85
• 6.12.86
• 6.12.87
• 6.12.88
• 6.12.89
• 6.12.90
• 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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CVSSv4info

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Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

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

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