CVE-2026-23453
Linux Kernel 6.19 – 6.19.10
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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-2026-23453 is a high-severity Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime (CWE-401) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 27th 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-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — 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-2026-23453 is a memory leak vulnerability in the Linux kernel's ti: icssg-prueth driver, which handles networking for Texas Instruments ICSSG PRU Ethernet devices. The issue arises in the XDP_DROP path of emac_run_xdp() when operating in non-zero-copy mode (standard page pool mode). Page recycling was removed to avoid conflicts with AF_XDP zero-copy mode, but this prevents pages from being returned to the page pool, resulting in gradual memory exhaustion and potential out-of-memory (OOM) conditions. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Remote attackers can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity and no privileges or user interaction required. By sending traffic that triggers XDP programs dropping packets in non-zero-copy mode, an attacker can repeatedly leak pages, leading to memory exhaustion, invocation of the OOM killer, and potential denial-of-service through system instability or crashes.
The provided kernel patch commits mitigate the issue by moving cleanup responsibility to the caller, emac_rx_packet(). When emac_run_xdp() returns ICSSG_XDP_CONSUMED for XDP_DROP, the caller now recycles the page back to the page pool. The zero-copy path in emac_rx_packet_zc() already handles cleanup correctly via xsk_buff_free(). Security practitioners should apply these stable kernel fixes from the referenced commits: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/719d3e71691db7c4f1658ba5a6d1472928121594 and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d16d57dedcb69c1a1257e0638f8698ce1f0ccbe5.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-18706
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ti: icssg-prueth: Fix memory leak in XDP_DROP for non-zero-copy mode Page recycling was removed from the XDP_DROP path in emac_run_xdp() to avoid conflicts with AF_XDP zero-copy mode, which uses…
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xsk_buff_free() instead. However, this causes a memory leak when running XDP programs that drop packets in non-zero-copy mode (standard page pool mode). The pages are never returned to the page pool, leading to OOM conditions. Fix this by handling cleanup in the caller, emac_rx_packet(). When emac_run_xdp() returns ICSSG_XDP_CONSUMED for XDP_DROP, the caller now recycles the page back to the page pool. The zero-copy path, emac_rx_packet_zc() already handles cleanup correctly with xsk_buff_free().
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (static analysis, fuzzing, or runtime leak detection) directly finds missing deallocation.
Requiring documented development standards and tools can mandate memory-management disciplines that avoid leaks at introduction.
Engineering principles applied during development can require explicit resource-release patterns that stop memory leaks from being coded.
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 enforce proper memory allocation/deallocation via coding standards, reviews, and tooling.
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 unreleased memory, providing partial coverage of the weakness.
Secure coding standards directly require proper allocation/deallocation, covering most of this weakness.
Capacity management may detect memory exhaustion symptoms but does not prevent the coding flaw.