CVE-2026-93196 — Kernel
HIGHCVE-2026-93196 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.4) vulnerability in Kernel. A fix is available for Kernel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
nvdimm: virtio_pmem: refcount requests for token lifetime
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-93196 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 374,847 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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:
nvdimm: virtio_pmem: refcount requests for token lifetime
KASAN reports slab-use-after-free in __wake_up_common(): BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __wake_up_common+0x114/0x160 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810fdcb710 by task swapper/0/0
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Not tainted 6.19.0-next-20260220-00006-g1eae5f204ec3 #4 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS Arch Linux 1.17.0-2-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl+0x6d/0xb0 print_report+0x170/0x4e2 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 ? __virt_addr_valid+0x1dc/0x380 kasan_report+0xbc/0xf0 ? __wake_up_common+0x114/0x160 ? __wake_up_common+0x114/0x160 __wake_up_common+0x114/0x160 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 __wake_up+0x36/0x60 virtio_pmem_host_ack+0x11d/0x3b0 ? sched_balance_domains+0x29f/0xb00 ? __pfx_virtio_pmem_host_ack+0x10/0x10 ? _raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x98/0x100 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock_irqsave+0x10/0x10 vring_interrupt+0x1c9/0x5e0 ? __pfx_vp_interrupt+0x10/0x10 vp_vring_interrupt+0x87/0x100 ? __pfx_vp_interrupt+0x10/0x10 __handle_irq_event_percpu+0x17f/0x550 ? __pfx__raw_spin_lock+0x10/0x10 handle_irq_event+0xab/0x1c0 handle_fasteoi_irq+0x276/0xae0 __common_interrupt+0x65/0x130 common_interrupt+0x78/0xa0 </IRQ>
virtio_pmem_host_ack() wakes a request that has already been freed by the submitter.
This happens when the request token is still reachable via the virtqueue, but virtio_pmem_flush() returns and frees it.
Fix the token lifetime by refcounting struct virtio_pmem_request. virtio_pmem_flush() holds a submitter reference, and the virtqueue holds an extra reference once the request is queued. The completion path drops the virtqueue reference, and the submitter drops its reference before returning.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐧Linux | Kernel | ≥ 5.3.0&&< 6.18.52 | 6.18.52 |
Detection & 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 6.18.52 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-93196 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2026-93196 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-93196. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-93196 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-93196 across Linux dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.