CVE-2026-23126 netdevsim: fix a race issue related to the operation on bpf_bound_progs list

What is CVE-2026-23126?

CVE-2026-23126 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:

netdevsim: fix a race issue related to the operation on bpf_bound_progs list

The netdevsim driver lacks a protection mechanism for operations on the bpf_bound_progs list. When the nsim_bpf_create_prog() performs list_add_tail, it is possible that nsim_bpf_destroy_prog() is simultaneously performs list_del. Concurrent operations on the list may lead to list corruption and trigger a kernel crash as follows:

[ 417.290971] kernel BUG at lib/list_debug.c:62! [ 417.290983] invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP NOPTI [ 417.290992] CPU: 10 PID: 168 Comm: kworker/10:1 Kdump: loaded Not tainted 6.19.0-rc5 #1 [ 417.291003] Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 [ 417.291007] Workqueue: events bpf_prog_free_deferred [ 417.291021] RIP: 0010:__list_del_entry_valid_or_report+0xa7/0xc0 [ 417.291034] Code: a8 ff 0f 0b 48 89 fe 48 89 ca 48 c7 c7 48 a1 eb ae e8 ed fb a8 ff 0f 0b 48 89 fe 48 89 c2 48 c7 c7 80 a1 eb ae e8 d9 fb a8 ff <0f> 0b 48 89 d1 48 c7 c7 d0 a1 eb ae 48 89 f2 48 89 c6 e8 c2 fb a8 [ 417.291040] RSP: 0018:ffffb16a40807df8 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 417.291046] RAX: 000000000000006d RBX: ffff8e589866f500 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 417.291051] RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: ffff8e59f7b23180 RDI: ffff8e59f7b23180 [ 417.291055] RBP: ffffb16a412c9000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000003 [ 417.291059] R10: ffffb16a40807c80 R11: ffffffffaf9edce8 R12: ffff8e594427ac20 [ 417.291063] R13: ffff8e59f7b44780 R14: ffff8e58800b7a05 R15: 0000000000000000 [ 417.291074] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff8e59f7b00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 417.291079] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 417.291083] CR2: 00007fc4083efe08 CR3: 00000001c3626006 CR4: 0000000000770ee0 [ 417.291088] PKRU: 55555554 [ 417.291091] Call Trace: [ 417.291096] <TASK> [ 417.291103] nsim_bpf_destroy_prog+0x31/0x80 [netdevsim] [ 417.291154] __bpf_prog_offload_destroy+0x2a/0x80 [ 417.291163] bpf_prog_dev_bound_destroy+0x6f/0xb0 [ 417.291171] bpf_prog_free_deferred+0x18e/0x1a0 [ 417.291178] process_one_work+0x18a/0x3a0 [ 417.291188] worker_thread+0x27b/0x3a0 [ 417.291197] ? __pfx_worker_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 417.291207] kthread+0xe5/0x120 [ 417.291214] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 417.291221] ret_from_fork+0x31/0x50 [ 417.291230] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 417.291236] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 417.291246] </TASK>

Add a mutex lock, to prevent simultaneous addition and deletion operations on the list.

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23126?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23126?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-23126 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23126 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-77682, BELL-CVE-2026-23126, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23126, GHSA-2wj2-8hhp-h6hm, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23126, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23126 and 2 more.