Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-23234 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 2th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-23234 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's F2FS filesystem implementation, specifically within the f2fs_write_end_io() function. The issue arises from a race condition between a loop device worker thread processing I/O requests and an umount operation. During this race, the superblock info structure (sbi) is freed in kill_f2fs_super() via f2fs_put_super(), but a subsequent access to the freed sbi occurs when get_pages() is called for F2FS_WB_CP_DATA pages after folio_end_writeback(). The vulnerability was reported by syzbot and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), mapped to CWE-416.
A local attacker with low privileges can exploit this vulnerability due to its low attack complexity and lack of user interaction requirements. Exploitation involves triggering the race condition, likely through concurrent loop device I/O and filesystem unmount operations, leading to use-after-free of the sbi structure. Successful exploitation could result in high-impact confidentiality, integrity, and availability violations, such as kernel memory corruption, arbitrary code execution in kernel context, or system denial of service.
The provided kernel stable commit references detail the mitigation, which relocates the checkpoint (ckpt) thread wakeup flow before folio_end_writeback() in f2fs_write_end_io() to ensure safe access to sbi after all page caches are dropped in kill_f2fs_super(). Security practitioners should apply these patches from the Linux kernel stable trees to affected versions.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-9406
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_write_end_io() As syzbot reported an use-after-free issue in f2fs_write_end_io(). It is caused by below race condition: loop device umount - worker_thread - loop_process_work -…
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do_req_filebacked - lo_rw_aio - lo_rw_aio_complete - blk_mq_end_request - blk_update_request - f2fs_write_end_io - dec_page_count - folio_end_writeback - kill_f2fs_super - kill_block_super - f2fs_put_super : free(sbi) : get_pages(, F2FS_WB_CP_DATA) accessed sbi which is freed In kill_f2fs_super(), we will drop all page caches of f2fs inodes before call free(sbi), it guarantee that all folios should end its writeback, so it should be safe to access sbi before last folio_end_writeback(). Let's relocate ckpt thread wakeup flow before folio_end_writeback() to resolve this issue.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V1.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.
Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.
Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416