# 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.

- **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:** 25 Mar 2026
- **Updated:** 15 Oct 2026
- **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, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23296, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-23296, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23296, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23296

## 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: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23296?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## 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

- [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-2026-23296 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23296 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-2026-23296/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23296/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23296
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23296
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23296

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23296/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.