# CVE-2026-23229: crypto: virtio - Add spinlock protection with virtqueue notification

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's virtio-crypto driver can cause system hangs during concurrent cryptographic operations, requiring a patch to add spinlock protection.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Feb 2026
- **Updated:** 2 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-23229, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23229, GHSA-j87r-wgfm-7fjj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23229, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23229, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23229, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23229, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23229

## What is CVE-2026-23229?

CVE-2026-23229 is a medium-severity 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:

crypto: virtio - Add spinlock protection with virtqueue notification

When VM boots with one virtio-crypto PCI device and builtin backend,
run openssl benchmark command with multiple processes, such as
  openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc -engine afalg  -seconds 10 -multi 32

openssl processes will hangup and there is error reported like this:
 virtio_crypto virtio0: dataq.0:id 3 is not a head!

It seems that the data virtqueue need protection when it is handled
for virtio done notification. If the spinlock protection is added
in virtcrypto_done_task(), openssl benchmark with multiple processes
works well.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23229?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23229?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23229 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23229 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-23229 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23229 is a medium-severity 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23229 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23229/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23229/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23229
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23229
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23229

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23229/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.