# CVE-2026-23386: gve: fix incorrect buffer cleanup in gve_tx_clean_pending_packets for QPL

> A bug in the Google gve network driver causes out-of-bounds memory access during buffer cleanup, potentially leading to system crashes or instability.

- **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:** 11 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-23386, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23386, GHSA-qq3v-279p-2285, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-13-CVE-2026-23386, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-23386, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23386

## What is CVE-2026-23386?

CVE-2026-23386 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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:

gve: fix incorrect buffer cleanup in gve_tx_clean_pending_packets for QPL

In DQ-QPL mode, gve_tx_clean_pending_packets() incorrectly uses the RDA
buffer cleanup path. It iterates num_bufs times and attempts to unmap
entries in the dma array.

This leads to two issues:
1. The dma array shares storage with tx_qpl_buf_ids (union).
 Interpreting buffer IDs as DMA addresses results in attempting to
 unmap incorrect memory locations.
2. num_bufs in QPL mode (counting 2K chunks) can significantly exceed
 the size of the dma array, causing out-of-bounds access warnings
(trace below is how we noticed this issue).

UBSAN: array-index-out-of-bounds in
drivers/net/ethernet/drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_tx_dqo.c:178:5 index 18 is out of
range for type 'dma_addr_t[18]' (aka 'unsigned long long[18]')
Workqueue: gve gve_service_task [gve]
Call Trace:
<TASK>
dump_stack_lvl+0x33/0xa0
__ubsan_handle_out_of_bounds+0xdc/0x110
gve_tx_stop_ring_dqo+0x182/0x200 [gve]
gve_close+0x1be/0x450 [gve]
gve_reset+0x99/0x120 [gve]
gve_service_task+0x61/0x100 [gve]
process_scheduled_works+0x1e9/0x380

Fix this by properly checking for QPL mode and delegating to
gve_free_tx_qpl_bufs() to reclaim the buffers.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-23386?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-23386?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-23386 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-23386 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-2026-23386 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-23386 is a medium-severity memory corruption 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-2026-23386 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-2026-23386/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23386/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-23386
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23386
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-23386

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-23386/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.