Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-53059

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 2.6.12.1 – 5.10.258

Memory Safety
Published
24 June 2026
Modified
12 August 2026
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
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:H
EPSS Score 0.0014 4th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-53059 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 4th 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.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: dm log: fix out-of-bounds write due to region_count overflow The local variable region_count in create_log_context() is declared as unsigned int (32-bit), but dm_sector_div_up() returns sector_t (64-bit). When a device-mapper target…

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has a sufficiently large ti->len with a small region_size, the division result can exceed UINT_MAX. The truncated value is then used to calculate bitset_size, causing clean_bits, sync_bits, and recovering_bits to be allocated far smaller than needed for the actual number of regions. Subsequent log operations (log_set_bit, log_clear_bit, log_test_bit) use region indices derived from the full untruncated region space, causing out-of-bounds writes to kernel heap memory allocated by vmalloc. This can be reproduced by creating a mirror target whose region_count overflows 32 bits: dmsetup create bigzero --table '0 8589934594 zero' dmsetup create mymirror --table '0 8589934594 mirror \ core 2 2 nosync 2 /dev/mapper/bigzero 0 \ /dev/mapper/bigzero 0' The status output confirms the truncation (sync_count=1 instead of 4294967297, because 0x100000001 was truncated to 1): $ dmsetup status mymirror 0 8589934594 mirror 2 254:1 254:1 1/4294967297 ... This leads to a kernel crash in core_in_sync: BUG: scheduling while atomic: (udev-worker)/9150/0x00000000 RIP: 0010:core_in_sync+0x14/0x30 [dm_log] CR2: 0000000000000008 Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed! Fix by widening the local region_count to sector_t and adding an explicit overflow check before the value is assigned to lc->region_count.

CWE(s)
CWE-787CWE-190

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 →
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 →
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
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-2023-52775Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-42288Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52868Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-41042Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-42236Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-21865Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-56614Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-44938Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-50288Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2023-52836Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
2.6.12 · 2.6.12.1 — 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)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.2.6

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and bounds checks) finds out-of-bounds write flaws before deployment.

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

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Secure engineering principles require use of safe arithmetic constructs or language features that structurally eliminate integer overflow during calculation.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

Input validation can structurally reject or sanitize data that would otherwise trigger an out-of-bounds write.

SI-16 Memory Protection partial match

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the exploitability and blast radius of a successful out-of-bounds write.

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-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.

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

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.

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

Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.

A.8.32 Change management partial match
prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

References