Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-53040 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.1 (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.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-38908
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: validate bg_bits during freefrag scan [BUG] A crafted filesystem can trigger an out-of-bounds bitmap walk when OCFS2_IOC_INFO is issued with OCFS2_INFO_FL_NON_COHERENT. BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:68 [inline] BUG:…
more
KASAN: use-after-free in _test_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:141 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in test_bit_le include/asm-generic/bitops/le.h:21 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:495 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_bitmap fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:588 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_handle_freefrag fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:662 [inline] BUG: KASAN: use-after-free in ocfs2_info_handle_request+0x1c66/0x3370 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:754 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888031bce000 by task syz.0.636/1435 Call Trace: __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xbe/0x130 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xd1/0x650 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0xfb/0x140 mm/kasan/report.c:595 check_region_inline mm/kasan/generic.c:186 [inline] kasan_check_range+0x11c/0x200 mm/kasan/generic.c:200 __kasan_check_read+0x11/0x20 mm/kasan/shadow.c:31 instrument_atomic_read include/linux/instrumented.h:68 [inline] _test_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:141 [inline] test_bit_le include/asm-generic/bitops/le.h:21 [inline] ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:495 [inline] ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_bitmap fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:588 [inline] ocfs2_info_handle_freefrag fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:662 [inline] ocfs2_info_handle_request+0x1c66/0x3370 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:754 ocfs2_info_handle+0x18d/0x2a0 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:828 ocfs2_ioctl+0x632/0x6e0 fs/ocfs2/ioctl.c:913 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x197/0x1e0 fs/ioctl.c:583 ... [CAUSE] ocfs2_info_freefrag_scan_chain() uses on-disk bg_bits directly as the bitmap scan limit. The coherent path reads group descriptors through ocfs2_read_group_descriptor(), which validates the descriptor before use. The non-coherent path uses ocfs2_read_blocks_sync() instead and skips that validation, so an impossible bg_bits value can drive the bitmap walk past the end of the block. [FIX] Compute the bitmap capacity from the filesystem format with ocfs2_group_bitmap_size(), report descriptors whose bg_bits exceeds that limit, and clamp the scan to the computed capacity. This keeps the freefrag report going while avoiding reads beyond the buffer.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
—
—
- 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