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TI-2026-18787 Aliases CVE-2026-23352GHSA-3ggx-9863-fxcm

x86/efi: defer freeing of boot services memory

Priority LOW 24CWE-401Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Denial of service
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-401.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/efi: defer freeing of boot services memory efi_free_boot_services() frees memory occupied by EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_CODE and EFI_BOOT_SERVICES_DATA using memblock_free_late(). There are two issue with that: memblock_free_late() should be used for memory allocated with memblock_alloc() while the memory reserved with memblock_reserve() should be freed with free_reserved_area(). More acutely, with CONFIG_DEFERRED_STRUCT_PAGE_INIT=y efi_free_boot_services() is called before deferred initialization of the memory map is complete. Benjamin Herrenschmidt reports that this causes a leak of ~140MB of RAM on EC2 t3a.nano instances which only have 512MB or RAM. If the freed memory resides in the areas that memory map for them is still uninitialized, they won't be actually freed because memblock_free_late() calls memblock_free_pages() and the latter skips uninitialized pages. Using free_reserved_area() at this point is also problematic because __free_page() accesses the buddy of the freed page and that again might end up in uninitialized part of the memory map. Delaying the entire efi_free_boot_services() could be problematic because in addition to freeing boot services memory it updates efi.memmap without any synchronization and that's undesirable late in boot when there is concurrency. More robust approach is to only defer freeing of the EFI boot services memory. Split efi_free_boot_services() in two. First efi_unmap_boot_services() collects ranges that should be freed into an array then efi_free_boot_services() later frees them after deferred init is complete.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00134 2nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203 +6Red Hat: 4 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux2.6.39.1 to before 2.6.39.22.6.39.2Patch availableCNA
LinuxLinux3.0 and later2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.39.1 to before 2.6.39.2 Fixed in 2.6.39.2 Patch available CNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 3.0 and later Fixed in 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 10

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*3.0.1 to before 5.10.253; 5.11 to before 5.15.203; 5.16 to before 6.1.167; 6.2 to before 6.6.130; 6.7 to before 6.12.77; 6.13 to before 6.18.17; 6.19 to before 6.19.7VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.39.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*2.6.39.1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:3.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*3.0VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc5VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc6VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*7.0 rc7VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.0.1 to before 5.10.253; 5.11 to before 5.15.203; 5.16 to before 6.1.167; 6.2 to before 6.6.130; 6.7 to before 6.12.77; 6.13 to before 6.18.17; 6.19 to before 6.19.7 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:2.6.39.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 2.6.39.1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:3.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 3.0 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 7.0 rc7 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 2.6.39.2
  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 2.6.39.2, 5.10.253, 5.15.203, 6.1.167, 6.6.130, 6.12.77, 6.18.17, 6.19.7, 7.0

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-23352
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-3ggx-9863-fxcm
  3. 2026-11-05 CISA SSVC decision points changed

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources