Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-23194

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-14
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.18.10 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: rust_binder: correctly handle FDA objects of length zero Fix a bug where an empty FDA (fd array) object with 0 fds would cause an out-of-bounds error. The previous implementation used `skip == 0` to mean "this is a pointer fixup", but 0 is also the correct skip length for an empty FDA. If the FDA is at the end of the buffer, then this results in an attempt to write 8-bytes out of bounds. This is caught and results in an EINVAL error being returned to userspace. The pattern of using `skip == 0` as a special value originates from the C-implementation of Binder. As part of fixing this bug, this pattern is replaced with a Rust enum. I considered the alternate option of not pushing a fixup when the length is zero, but I think it's cleaner to just get rid of the zero-is-special stuff. The root cause of this bug was diagnosed by Gemini CLI on first try. I used the following prompt: > There appears to be a bug in @drivers/android/binder/thread.rs where > the Fixups oob bug is triggered with 316 304 316 324. This implies > that we somehow ended up with a fixup where buffer A has a pointer to > buffer B, but the pointer is located at an index in buffer A that is > out of bounds. Please investigate the code to find the bug. You may > compare with @drivers/android/binder.c that implements this correctly.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-787

The program writes past the bounds of a buffer, overwriting adjacent memory an attacker can turn to their advantage. Crafted input can overwrite control data and redirect execution. Remediation is validating every index and length before a write, plus modern memory-safety mitigations.

General guidance for the out-of-bounds write class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:>= 6.18, < 6.18.10= 6.19

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 6.18.10 or later
Fixed in 6.18.10
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 6.18.10+ or 6.19.1+ (latest stable recommended)

  1. Check current kernel version with `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version`
  2. Upgrade Linux kernel to version 6.18.10 or later, OR version 6.19.1 or later
  3. Ensure the upgrade includes the stable patch commit 598fe3ff32e43918ed8a062f55432b3d23e6340c
  4. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel
  5. Verify the new kernel version is running with `uname -r`
Caveat Kernel upgrade requires system reboot; ensure compatibility with existing system libraries and drivers before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $3,200. Get the upgrade done

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-23194 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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