CVE-2026-23219 mm/slab: Add alloc_tagging_slab_free_hook for memcg_alloc_abort_single
A missing hook in the Linux kernel memory allocator causes warnings and potential instability when memory profiling debug is enabled.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-23219?
CVE-2026-23219 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 18 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:
mm/slab: Add alloc_tagging_slab_free_hook for memcg_alloc_abort_single
When CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG is enabled, the following warning may be noticed:
[ 3959.023862] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 3959.023891] alloc_tag was not cleared (got tag for lib/xarray.c:378) [ 3959.023947] WARNING: ./include/linux/alloc_tag.h:155 at alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178, CPU#6: mkfs.ntfs/113998 [ 3959.023978] Modules linked in: dns_resolver tun brd overlay exfat btrfs blake2b libblake2b xor xor_neon raid6_pq loop sctp ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel ext4 crc16 mbcache jbd2 rfkill sunrpc vfat fat sg fuse nfnetlink sr_mod virtio_gpu cdrom drm_client_lib virtio_dma_buf drm_shmem_helper drm_kms_helper ghash_ce drm sm4 backlight virtio_net net_failover virtio_scsi failover virtio_console virtio_blk virtio_mmio dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_multipath dm_mod i2c_dev aes_neon_bs aes_ce_blk [last unloaded: hwpoison_inject] [ 3959.024170] CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 113998 Comm: mkfs.ntfs Kdump: loaded Tainted: G W 6.19.0-rc7+ #7 PREEMPT(voluntary) [ 3959.024182] Tainted: [W]=WARN [ 3959.024186] Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS unknown 2/2/2022 [ 3959.024192] pstate: 604000c5 (nZCv daIF +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 3959.024199] pc : alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178 [ 3959.024207] lr : alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178 [ 3959.024214] sp : ffff80008b696d60 [ 3959.024219] x29: ffff80008b696d60 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000240 [ 3959.024232] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000240 x24: ffff800085d17860 [ 3959.024245] x23: 0000000000402800 x22: ffff0000c0012dc0 x21: 00000000000002d0 [ 3959.024257] x20: ffff0000e6ef3318 x19: ffff800085ae0410 x18: 0000000000000000 [ 3959.024269] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000 [ 3959.024281] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000001 x12: ffff600064101293 [ 3959.024292] x11: 1fffe00064101292 x10: ffff600064101292 x9 : dfff800000000000 [ 3959.024305] x8 : 00009fff9befed6e x7 : ffff000320809493 x6 : 0000000000000001 [ 3959.024316] x5 : ffff000320809490 x4 : ffff600064101293 x3 : ffff800080691838 [ 3959.024328] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0000d5bcd640 [ 3959.024340] Call trace: [ 3959.024346] alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178 (P) [ 3959.024355] __alloc_tagging_slab_alloc_hook+0x11c/0x1a8 [ 3959.024362] kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x1b8/0x5e8 [ 3959.024369] xas_alloc+0x304/0x4f0 [ 3959.024381] xas_create+0x1e0/0x4a0 [ 3959.024388] xas_store+0x68/0xda8 [ 3959.024395] __filemap_add_folio+0x5b0/0xbd8 [ 3959.024409] filemap_add_folio+0x16c/0x7e0 [ 3959.024416] __filemap_get_folio_mpol+0x2dc/0x9e8 [ 3959.024424] iomap_get_folio+0xfc/0x180 [ 3959.024435] __iomap_get_folio+0x2f8/0x4b8 [ 3959.024441] iomap_write_begin+0x198/0xc18 [ 3959.024448] iomap_write_iter+0x2ec/0x8f8 [ 3959.024454] iomap_file_buffered_write+0x19c/0x290 [ 3959.024461] blkdev_write_iter+0x38c/0x978 [ 3959.024470] vfs_write+0x4d4/0x928 [ 3959.024482] ksys_write+0xfc/0x1f8 [ 3959.024489] __arm64_sys_write+0x74/0xb0 [ 3959.024496] invoke_syscall+0xd4/0x258 [ 3959.024507] el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xb4/0x240 [ 3959.024514] do_el0_svc+0x48/0x68 [ 3959.024520] el0_svc+0x40/0xf8 [ 3959.024526] el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe8 [ 3959.024533] el0t_64_sync+0x1ac/0x1b0 [ 3959.024540] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
When __memcg_slab_post_alloc_hook() fails, there are two different free paths depending on whether size == 1 or size != 1. In the kmem_cache_free_bulk() path, we do call alloc_tagging_slab_free_hook(). However, in memcg_alloc_abort_single() we don't, the above warning will be triggered on the next allocation.
Therefore, add alloc_tagging_slab_free_hook() to the memcg_alloc_abort_single() path.
Weakness: CWE-772
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23219?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23219?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-23219 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23219 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23219, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23219, GHSA-77vx-jc7r-586m, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23219.