CVE-2026-23372 nfc: rawsock: cancel tx_work before socket teardown
A race condition in the Linux kernel NFC raw socket release path allows use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or 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-2026-23372?
CVE-2026-23372 is a high-severity use after free 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:
nfc: rawsock: cancel tx_work before socket teardown
In rawsock_release(), cancel any pending tx_work and purge the write queue before orphaning the socket. rawsock_tx_work runs on the system workqueue and calls nfc_data_exchange which dereferences the NCI device. Without synchronization, tx_work can race with socket and device teardown when a process is killed (e.g. by SIGKILL), leading to use-after-free or leaked references.
Set SEND_SHUTDOWN first so that if tx_work is already running it will see the flag and skip transmitting, then use cancel_work_sync to wait for any in-progress execution to finish, and finally purge any remaining queued skbs.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23372?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-23372?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-23372 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23372 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-23372, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23372, GHSA-v5pm-g3x4-2pmj, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-23372, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-23372, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23372 and 3 more.