CVE-2026-23120 l2tp: avoid one data-race in l2tp_tunnel_del_work()

What is CVE-2026-23120?

CVE-2026-23120 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 14 Feb 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:

l2tp: avoid one data-race in l2tp_tunnel_del_work()

We should read sk->sk_socket only when dealing with kernel sockets.

syzbot reported the following data-race:

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in l2tp_tunnel_del_work / sk_common_release

write to 0xffff88811c182b20 of 8 bytes by task 5365 on cpu 0: sk_set_socket include/net/sock.h:2092 [inline] sock_orphan include/net/sock.h:2118 [inline] sk_common_release+0xae/0x230 net/core/sock.c:4003 udp_lib_close+0x15/0x20 include/net/udp.h:325 inet_release+0xce/0xf0 net/ipv4/af_inet.c:437 __sock_release net/socket.c:662 [inline] sock_close+0x6b/0x150 net/socket.c:1455 __fput+0x29b/0x650 fs/file_table.c:468 ____fput+0x1c/0x30 fs/file_table.c:496 task_work_run+0x131/0x1a0 kernel/task_work.c:233 resume_user_mode_work include/linux/resume_user_mode.h:50 [inline] __exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:44 [inline] exit_to_user_mode_loop+0x1fe/0x740 kernel/entry/common.c:75 __exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:226 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/irq-entry-common.h:256 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work include/linux/entry-common.h:159 [inline] syscall_exit_to_user_mode include/linux/entry-common.h:194 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x1e1/0x2b0 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f

read to 0xffff88811c182b20 of 8 bytes by task 827 on cpu 1: l2tp_tunnel_del_work+0x2f/0x1a0 net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c:1418 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3257 [inline] process_scheduled_works+0x4ce/0x9d0 kernel/workqueue.c:3340 worker_thread+0x582/0x770 kernel/workqueue.c:3421 kthread+0x489/0x510 kernel/kthread.c:463 ret_from_fork+0x149/0x290 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:246

value changed: 0xffff88811b818000 -> 0x0000000000000000

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23120?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23120?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-23120 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23120 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 AZL-77697, BELL-CVE-2026-23120, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23120, GHSA-3w5h-8286-m3qw, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23120, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23120 and 1 more.