CVE-2026-23161 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2026-23161
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress
Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

  • Attack Complexity:
    Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
  • Attack Vector:
    Attack Vector Under Analysis
  • Privileges Required: None
    No authentication is required for exploitation.
  • Scope:
    Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
  • User Interaction: None
    No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2026-23161 Details

Status: Awaiting Analysis

Last updated: 🕠 18 Feb 2026, 17:52 UTC
Originally published on: 🕓 14 Feb 2026, 16:15 UTC

Time between publication and last update: 4 days

CVSS Release:

CVE-2026-23161 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2026-23161: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mm/shmem, swap: fix race of truncate and swap entry split The helper for shmem swap freeing is not handling the order of swap entries correctly. It uses xa_cmpxchg_irq to erase the swap entry, but it gets the entry order before that using xa_get_order without lock protection, and it may get an outdated order value if the entry is split or changed in other ways after the xa_get_order and before the xa_cmpxchg_irq. And besides, the order could grow and be larger than expected, and cause truncation to erase data beyond the end border. For example, if the target entry and following entries are swapped in or freed, then a large folio was added in place and swapped out, using the same entry, the xa_cmpxchg_irq will still succeed, it's very unlikely to happen though. To fix that, open code the Xarray cmpxchg and put the order retrieval and value checking in the same critical section. Also, ensure the order won't exceed the end border, skip it if the entry goes across the border. Skipping large swap entries crosses the end border is safe here. Shmem truncate iterates the range twice, in the first iteration, find_lock_entries already filtered such entries, and shmem will swapin the entries that cross the end border and partially truncate the folio (split the folio or at least zero part of it). So in the second loop here, if we see a swap entry that crosses the end order, it must at least have its content erased already. I observed random swapoff hangs and kernel panics when stress testing ZSWAP with shmem. After applying this patch, all problems are gone.

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2026-23161

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2026-23161 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2026-23161

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2026-23161.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2026-23161, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2026-23161, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

  • Confidentiality: None
    CVE-2026-23161 does not compromise confidentiality.
  • Integrity: None
    CVE-2026-23161 does not impact data integrity.
  • Availability: None
    CVE-2026-23161 does not affect system availability.

CVE-2026-23161 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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