CVE-2026-23014 perf: Ensure swevent hrtimer is properly destroyed

What is CVE-2026-23014?

CVE-2026-23014 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 28 Jan 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

perf: Ensure swevent hrtimer is properly destroyed

With the change to hrtimer_try_to_cancel() in perf_swevent_cancel_hrtimer() it appears possible for the hrtimer to still be active by the time the event gets freed.

Make sure the event does a full hrtimer_cancel() on the free path by installing a perf_event::destroy handler.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23014?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23014?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2026-23014 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23014 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23014, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23014, GHSA-cm38-gcmc-3rxp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23014.