CVE-2026-52923 — Kernel
HIGHCVE-2026-52923 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) CWE-401 vulnerability in Kernel. A fix is available for Kernel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
ipc: limit next_id allocation to the valid ID range
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-52923 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 380,526 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
KernelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Linux packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipc: limit next_id allocation to the valid ID range
The checkpoint/restore sysctl path can request the next SysV IPC id through ids->next_id. ipc_idr_alloc() currently forwards that request to idr_alloc() with an open-ended upper bound.
If the valid tail of the SysV IPC id space is full, the allocation can spill beyond ipc_mni. The returned SysV IPC id still uses the normal index encoding, so later lookup and removal can target the wrong slot. This leaves the real IDR entry behind and breaks the IDR state for the object.
The bug is in ipc_idr_alloc() in the checkpoint/restore path.
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ids->next_id is passed to:
idr_alloc(&ids->ipcs_idr, new, ipcid_to_idx(next_id), 0, ...) -
The zero upper bound makes the allocation effectively open-ended. Once the valid SysV IPC tail is occupied, idr_alloc() can spill past ipc_mni and allocate an entry beyond the valid IPC id range.
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The new object id is still encoded with the narrower SysV IPC index width:
new->id = (new->seq << ipcmni_seq_shift()) + idx -
Later removal goes through ipc_rmid(), which uses:
ipcid_to_idx(ipcp->id)That truncates the real IDR index. An object actually stored at a high index can then be removed as if it lived at a low in-range index.
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For shared memory, shm_destroy() frees the current object anyway, but the real high IDR slot is left behind as a dangling pointer.
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A subsequent walk of /proc/sysvipc/shm reaches the stale IDR entry and dereferences freed memory.
Prevent this by bounding the requested allocation to ipc_mni so the checkpoint/restore path fails once the valid range is exhausted.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐧Linux | Kernel | ≥ 3.8.0&&< 5.10.259 | 5.10.259 |
Affected Products
linux kernellinuxDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Kernel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Kernel to 5.10.259 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-52923 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Cap what an attacker can consume: apply request size, rate and timeout limits in front of the affected component, and run it with memory and CPU limits so exhaustion degrades one worker rather than the whole service.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
SysV IPC checkpoint restore next_id allocation can escape the valid IPC id range because ipc_idr_alloc used an open ended idr_alloc upper bound. A crafted local sequence can leave a shared memory object stored in an out of range IDR slot, while later removal truncates the encoded id and removes a different in range…
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2026-52923 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | kernel-0:6.12.0-211.46.1.el10_2 | RHSA-2026:53330 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support | kernel-0:6.12.0-55.95.1.el10_0 | RHSA-2026:52764 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support | kernel-rt-0:3.10.0-1160.159.1.rt56.1311.el7 | RHSA-2026:63189 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support | kernel-0:3.10.0-1160.159.1.el7 | RHSA-2026:61692 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel-rt-0:4.18.0-553.151.1.rt7.492.el8_10 | RHSA-2026:49851 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel-0:4.18.0-553.151.1.el8_10 | RHSA-2026:49857 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 Advanced Mission Critical Update Support | kernel-0:4.18.0-305.200.1.el8_4 | RHSA-2026:47248 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.8 Telecommunications Update Service | kernel-0:4.18.0-477.158.1.el8_8 | RHSA-2026:52649 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-52923 in your dependencies?
Find it across Linux, including transitive dependencies.