CVE-2026-53169
Linux Kernel 6.19 – 7.0.13
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). EPSS scores by FIRST (EPSS SIG), generated by Empirical Security. Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-53169 is a medium-severity Reachable Assertion (CWE-617) vulnerability in Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Defense Impairment (T1687); 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-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-39260
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: accel/ethosu: reject NPU_OP_RESIZE commands from userspace NPU_OP_RESIZE is a U85-only command that the driver does not yet implement. The existing WARN_ON(1) placeholder fires unconditionally whenever userspace submits this command via…
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DRM_IOCTL_ETHOSU_GEM_CREATE, causing unbounded kernel log spam. If panic_on_warn is set the kernel panics, giving any unprivileged user with access to the DRM device a trivial denial-of-service primitive. Replace the WARN_ON(1) with an explicit -EINVAL return so the ioctl rejects the command before it reaches hardware.
- 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 finds reachable assertions during development.
Security engineering principles discourage use of assertions for handling untrusted input.
Validating untrusted inputs structurally prevents attacker data from reaching and triggering assertions.
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 prevent unsafe assertions from being coded in reachable paths.
Runtime monitoring of software can detect assertion-triggered crashes as adverse events.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover and record reachable-assertion flaws before deployment.
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 reachable assertions before release, reducing the likelihood of exploitation.
Secure coding standards explicitly ban the use of assert() or equivalent statements that can be triggered by external input.