Linux Kernel up to 6.18.35/7.0.12 mm mincore_swap privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.35/7.0.12. It has been declared as critical. This issue affects the function mincore_swap of the component mm. Such manipulation leads to an unknown weakness. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-53333. 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 6.18.35/7.0.12. Affected by this issue is the function mincore_swap of the component mm. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/mincore: handle non-swap entries before !CONFIG_SWAP guard mincore_swap() also fields migration/hwpoison entries (and shmem swapin-error entries), which can exist on !CONFIG_SWAP builds when CONFIG_MIGRATION or CONFIG_MEMORY_FAILURE is enabled. The !IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SWAP) guard ran before the non-swap-entry early return, so mincore_pte_range() can spuriously WARN and report these pages nonresident on !CONFIG_SWAP kernels. Move the guard below the non-swap-entry check so only true swap entries trip the WARN, and migration/hwpoison entries take the existing "uptodate / non-shmem" path.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-53333 since 06/09/2026. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 07/01/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.36 or 7.0.13 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch a8f91ddf67f669f547bb9fb559738da6f8ee2cf3/3481d4372ae34243f7025925314385b852c50f7e/0c25b8734367574e21aeb8468c2e522713134da7 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.

Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 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
• 7.0.10
• 7.0.11
• 7.0.12

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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