Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-46243

Linux Kernel 2.6.24.1 – 5.10.258

Published
01 June 2026
Modified
07 August 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0038 31th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-46243 is a high-severity Improper Input Validation (CWE-20) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 31th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: smb: client: reject userspace cifs.spnego descriptions cifs.spnego key descriptions contain authority-bearing fields such as pid, uid, creduid, and upcall_target that cifs.upcall treats as kernel-originating inputs. However, userspace can also create…

more

keys of this type through request_key(2) or add_key(2), allowing those fields to be supplied without CIFS origin. Only accept cifs.spnego descriptions while CIFS is using its private spnego_cred to request the key.

CWE(s)
NVD-CWE-noinfoCWE-20CWE-825

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
attack.mitre.org →
T1036.001 Invalid Code Signature Stealth
Adversaries may attempt to mimic features of valid code signatures to increase the chance of deceiving a user, analyst, or tool.
attack.mitre.org →
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2013-6282Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-46176Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-53085Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-31703Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-45972Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-52924Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-45998Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-46166Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-52950Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2026-23074Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
2.6.24, 7.1 · 2.6.24.1 — 5.10.258 · 5.11 — 5.15.209 · 5.16 — 6.1.175

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 6 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing input validation through analysis or test cases.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

SI-10 directly requires validity checks on information inputs, structurally preventing improper or missing validation.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented development standards and tools can embed input-validation practices into the engineering process.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles applied during design and implementation can mandate memory-safe allocation, ownership, and deallocation patterns that structurally avoid use of expired pointers.

SC-39 Process Isolation partial match

Process isolation confines the effects of a use-after-free within a single address space, reducing cross-process impact.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the blast radius when an expired pointer is dereferenced, even though they do not stop the coding flaw itself.

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.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require and enforce input validation during development.

ID.AM-08 partial match
prevents

Lifecycle management includes secure development and maintenance phases that reduce memory-safety defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free flaws via scanning or analysis.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching and replacement can eliminate known instances of expired-pointer bugs.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Testing against a defined set of requirements and using code review plus vulnerability scanning forces validation of inputs and handling of unanticipated conditions, reducing the chance that malformed data will be accepted.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure-coding guidelines and mandatory security testing (including code scans) compel developers to validate and sanitize inputs at design and implementation time, lowering the incidence of malformed or malicious data reaching downstream components.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Mandating input controls that include integrity checks and input validation ensures that untrusted data is examined before use, blocking the root cause of many injection and malformed-data weaknesses.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Security-by-design principles explicitly call for data validation and sanitization at every layer, reducing the chance that malformed or malicious input will be processed without scrutiny.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Requiring language-specific secure coding standards, peer review, SAST and documented mitigation of common programming errors forces validation of all inputs before they are trusted.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change-management processes can require re-validation of memory safety after modifications, indirectly reducing the weakness.

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).

RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230265 RHEL 8 must prevent the installation of software, patches, service packs, device drivers, or operating system components of local packages without verification they have been digitally signed using a certificate that is issued by a Certificate Authority (CA) that is recognized and approved by the organization. prevents CWE-20

References