CVE-2026-53000
HIGH 7.8In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nat: use kfree_rcu to release ops Florian Westphal says: "Historically this is not an issue, even for normal base hooks: the data path doesn't use the original nf_hook_ops that are used to register the callbacks. However, in v5.14 I added the ability to dump the active netfilter hooks from userspace. This code will peek back into the nf_hook_ops that are available at the tail of the pointer-array blob used by the datapath. The nat hooks are special, because they are called indirectly from the central nat dispatcher hook. They are currently invisible to the nfnl hook dump subsystem though. But once that changes the nat ops structures have to be deferred too." Update nf_nat_register_fn() to deal with partial exposition of the hooks from error path which can be also an issue for nfnetlink_hook.
Severe if exploited (CVSS 7.8), but no known exploitation and low modeled probability. Patch on a normal cadence.
Exploitation likelihood
0.1%chance of exploitation in 30 days · 3rd percentile
Impact if exploited
7.8CVSS 3.1 · HIGH
- ConfidentialityHigh
- IntegrityHigh
- AvailabilityHigh
What an attacker needs
- ⚠Access: Requires local access to the host
- ⚠Privileges: Requires a low-privilege account
- ✓User interaction: No user interaction needed
- ✓Complexity: No special conditions — reliably repeatable
✓ lowers the bar for an attacker · ⚠ raises it
Proof of concept & exploit code
- github-search Search GitHub for public PoC repos
Test against your own equipment
curl -s https://vulnpedia.com/cve/CVE-2026-53000/poc.jsonMachine-readable PoC index for this CVE (for automation).Listed for defensive triage, patch verification, and authorized testing on systems you own. Machine-readable: /cve/CVE-2026-53000/poc.json
Affected
Products Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Linux Kernel Enterprise Linux
Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-763: Release of Invalid Pointer or Reference
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Known Affected Software Configurations
| Vendor | Product | Version range |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux Kernel | ≥ 5.14 and < 6.18.33 |
| Linux | Linux Kernel | ≥ 6.19 and < 7.0.10 |
| Redhat | Enterprise Linux | 9.0 |
| Redhat | Enterprise Linux | 10.0 |
All CVSS metrics
- HIGH 7.8 v3.1 · CNA Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - HIGH 7 v3.1 · ADP Primary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - HIGH 7.8 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - HIGH 7 v3.1 · NVD Secondary
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H