CVE-2026-23296 scsi: core: Fix refcount leak for tagset_refcnt
A refcount leak in the Linux kernel SCSI core causes a hang during host teardown, leading to denial of service.
- 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-2026-23296?
CVE-2026-23296 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 Mar 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:
scsi: core: Fix refcount leak for tagset_refcnt
This leak will cause a hang when tearing down the SCSI host. For example, iscsid hangs with the following call trace:
[130120.652718] scsi_alloc_sdev: Allocation failure during SCSI scanning, some SCSI devices might not be configured
PID: 2528 TASK: ffff9d0408974e00 CPU: 3 COMMAND: "iscsid" #0 [ffffb5b9c134b9e0] __schedule at ffffffff860657d4 #1 [ffffb5b9c134ba28] schedule at ffffffff86065c6f #2 [ffffb5b9c134ba40] schedule_timeout at ffffffff86069fb0 #3 [ffffb5b9c134bab0] __wait_for_common at ffffffff8606674f #4 [ffffb5b9c134bb10] scsi_remove_host at ffffffff85bfe84b #5 [ffffb5b9c134bb30] iscsi_sw_tcp_session_destroy at ffffffffc03031c4 [iscsi_tcp] #6 [ffffb5b9c134bb48] iscsi_if_recv_msg at ffffffffc0292692 [scsi_transport_iscsi] #7 [ffffb5b9c134bb98] iscsi_if_rx at ffffffffc02929c2 [scsi_transport_iscsi] #8 [ffffb5b9c134bbf0] netlink_unicast at ffffffff85e551d6 #9 [ffffb5b9c134bc38] netlink_sendmsg at ffffffff85e554ef
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23296?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23296?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-23296 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23296 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-80583, BELL-CVE-2026-23296, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23296, GHSA-xvv5-hhxw-j52w, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23296, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23296 and 4 more.