Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-43296
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 · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: octeontx2-af: Workaround SQM/PSE stalls by disabling sticky NIX SQ manager sticky mode is known to cause stalls when multiple SQs share an SMQ and transmit concurrently. Additionally, PSE may deadlock on transitions between sticky and non-sticky transmissions. There is also a credit drop issue observed when certain condition clocks are gated. work around these hardware errata by: - Disabling SQM sticky operation: - Clear TM6 (bit 15) - Clear TM11 (bit 14) - Disabling sticky → non-sticky transition path that can deadlock PSE: - Clear TM5 (bit 23) - Preventing credit drops by keeping the control-flow clock enabled: - Set TM9 (bit 21) These changes are applied via NIX_AF_SQM_DBG_CTL_STATUS. With this configuration the SQM/PSE maintain forward progress under load without credit loss, at the cost of disabling sticky optimizations.
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 analysisShared resources are accessed without correct locking, so concurrent operations interleave into inconsistent — and sometimes exploitable — states, or deadlock the service outright. These bugs are subtle and timing-dependent. The fix is correct, consistent locking or atomic operations around every shared resource.
General guidance for the improper locking 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
>= 5.5, < 5.10.252>= 5.11, < 5.15.202>= 5.16, < 6.1.165>= 6.2, < 6.6.128>= 6.7, < 6.12.75>= 6.13, < 6.18.16>= 6.19, < 6.19.6CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 · scoped5.10.2525.15.2026.1.165
Linux Kernel 5.10.252 / 5.15.202 / 6.1.165 / 6.6.128 (depending on current branch)
- Identify the current Linux kernel version running on affected systems using 'uname -r'
- Determine which version branch the current kernel belongs to (5.10.x, 5.11-5.15.x, 5.16-6.1.x, or 6.2-6.6.x)
- For kernels in the 5.10.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 5.10.252 or later
- For kernels in the 5.11-5.15.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 5.15.202 or later
- For kernels in the 5.16-6.1.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.1.165 or later
- For kernels in the 6.2-6.6.x branch: upgrade to kernel version 6.6.128 or later
- Reboot the system to apply the new kernel
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-43296 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-43296 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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