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Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2026-23339

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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: nfc: nci: free skb on nci_transceive early error paths nci_transceive() takes ownership of the skb passed by the caller, but the -EPROTO, -EINVAL, and -EBUSY error paths return without freeing it. Due to issues clearing NCI_DATA_EXCHANGE fixed by subsequent changes the nci/nci_dev selftest hits the error path occasionally in NIPA, and kmemleak detects leaks: unreferenced object 0xff11000015ce6a40 (size 640): comm "nci_dev", pid 3954, jiffies 4295441246 hex dump (first 32 bytes): 6b 6b 6b 6b 00 a4 00 0c 02 e1 03 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b kkkk.......kkkkk 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b 6b kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk backtrace (crc 7c40cc2a): kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0x492/0x630 __alloc_skb+0x11e/0x5f0 alloc_skb_with_frags+0xc6/0x8f0 sock_alloc_send_pskb+0x326/0x3f0 nfc_alloc_send_skb+0x94/0x1d0 rawsock_sendmsg+0x162/0x4c0 do_syscall_64+0x117/0xfc0

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-401

Allocated memory is never released on some path, so a long-running service or a repeatedly triggered request steadily consumes memory until performance degrades or the process crashes. Attackers exploit it by simply driving the leaking path. Remediation is pairing every allocation with a release and using ownership patterns or tooling to catch what leaks.

General guidance for the memory leak 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:>= 3.2.1, < 5.10.253>= 5.11, < 5.15.203>= 5.16, < 6.1.167>= 6.2, < 6.6.130>= 6.7, < 6.12.77>= 6.13, < 6.18.17>= 6.19, < 6.19.7= 3.2= 7.0

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 5.10.253 / 5.15.203 / 6.1.167 or later
Fixed in 5.10.2535.15.2036.1.167
Vendor patch git.kernel.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to kernel 5.10.253+, 5.15.203+, 6.1.167+, or 6.6.130+ (or later stable releases) which contain the fix for the memory leak in nci_transceive

  1. Identify the exact kernel version running on affected systems using `uname -r`
  2. Obtain the fixed kernel version for your distribution that includes the commit 3245801d44a44c090acefe19a12d22d12cac45c5
  3. For RHEL/CentOS systems, check if a kernel update is available via `yum check-update` or `dnf check-update`
  4. For Debian/Ubuntu systems, run `apt update && apt list --upgradable` to see available kernel updates
  5. Apply the vendor patch or upgrade to a fixed kernel version that includes the backport of commit 3245801d44a44c090acefe19a12d22d12cac45c5
  6. Reboot the system to load the patched kernel
  7. Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version and confirming the nci_transceive function contains the kfree_skb calls in error paths
Caveat Low risk: this is a minor bugfix for a memory leak in the NFC NCI subsystem; no API or behavioral changes expected

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 $1,600. Get the upgrade done

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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-2026-23339 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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