Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-53062
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: dm cache policy smq: fix missing locks in invalidating cache blocks In passthrough mode, the policy invalidate_mapping operation is called simultaneously from multiple workers, thus it should be protected by a lock. Otherwise, we might end up with data races on the allocated blocks counter, or even use-after-free issues with internal data structures when doing concurrent writes. Note that the existing FIXME in smq_invalidate_mapping() doesn't affect passthrough mode since migration tasks don't exist there, but would need attention if supporting fast device shrinking via suspend/resume without target reloading. Reproduce steps: 1. Create a cache device consisting of 1024 cache entries dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0" dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192" dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144" dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \ /dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writethrough smq 0" 2. Populate the cache, and record the number of cached blocks fio --name=populate --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --rw=randwrite --bs=4k \ --size=64m --direct=1 nr_cached=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{split($7, a, "/"); print a[1]}') 3. Reload the cache into passthrough mode dmsetup suspend cache dmsetup reload cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \ /dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 passthrough smq 0" dmsetup resume cache 4. Write to the passthrough cache. By setting multiple jobs with I/O size equal to the cache block size, cache blocks are invalidated concurrently from different workers. fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=test --rw=randwrite --bs=64k \ --direct=1 --numjobs=2 --randrepeat=0 --size=64m 5. Check if demoted matches cached block count. These numbers should match but may differ due to the data race. nr_demoted=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{print $12}') echo "$nr_cached, $nr_demoted"
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 · high confidenceA race condition exists in the Linux kernel's dm-cache policy smq (simple queued) where the invalidate_mapping operation in passthrough mode lacks proper locking protection when called simultaneously from multiple worker threads. This leads to data races on the allocated blocks counter and potential use-after-free conditions in internal data structures during concurrent writes.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
>= 4.12, < 5.10.258>= 5.11, < 5.15.209>= 5.16, < 6.1.175>= 6.2, < 6.6.141>= 6.7, < 6.12.91>= 6.13, < 6.18.33>= 6.19, < 7.0.10CVSS 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
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if dm-cache is in useRun 'dmsetup status' or 'dmsetup table' to list device-mapper devices and look for cache targetsAffected if No dm-cache devices exist, the system is not affected
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Identify if smq policy is configuredRun 'dmsetup status <device>' on any cache devices and look for 'smq' in the policy fieldAffected if The policy is not set to smq, the vulnerability does not apply
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Verify passthrough mode is enabledRun 'dmsetup status <device>' and check the cache mode field for 'passthrough' or 'writeback'/'writethrough'Affected if Passthrough mode is not enabled, the race condition trigger path is not active
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Check for concurrent access patternsReview application logs or system logs for evidence of multiple fio workers or concurrent I/O to the cache deviceAffected if The workload does not involve concurrent I/O to the cache device, the race condition cannot be triggered
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Inspect kernel versionRun 'uname -r' and compare against the kernel version that contains the fix for this CVEAffected if The kernel version predates the fix and concurrent dm-cache smq passthrough access is in use, the system is vulnerable
A system is affected only when it uses dm-cache with the smq policy enabled in passthrough mode under concurrent I/O workloads, running a kernel older than the fixed version.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor data5.10.2585.15.2096.1.175
Apply the upstream kernel patch that adds appropriate locking (spinlock or mutex) to the smq_invalidate_mapping() function to serialize concurrent invalidation operations in passthrough mode. Until the patch is applied, avoid running high-concurrency I/O workloads against dm-cache devices operating in passthrough mode.
Fix this in Linux Kernel
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-53062 — 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-2026-53062 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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