CVE-2026-53008 ice: fix race condition in TX timestamp ring cleanup

What is CVE-2026-53008?

CVE-2026-53008 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 24 Jun 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:

ice: fix race condition in TX timestamp ring cleanup

Fix a race condition between ice_free_tx_tstamp_ring() and ice_tx_map() that can cause a NULL pointer dereference.

ice_free_tx_tstamp_ring currently clears the ICE_TX_FLAGS_TXTIME flag after NULLing the tstamp_ring. This could allow a concurrent ice_tx_map call on another CPU to dereference the tstamp_ring, which could lead to a NULL pointer dereference.

CPU A:ice_free_tx_tstamp_ring() | CPU B:ice_tx_map() --------------------------------|--------------------------------- tx_ring->tstamp_ring = NULL | | ice_is_txtime_cfg() -> true | tstamp_ring = tx_ring->tstamp_ring | tstamp_ring->count // NULL deref! flags &= ~ICE_TX_FLAGS_TXTIME |

Fix by: 1. Reordering ice_free_tx_tstamp_ring() to clear the flag before NULLing the pointer, with smp_wmb() to ensure proper ordering. 2. Adding smp_rmb() in ice_tx_map() after the flag check to order the flag read before the pointer read, using READ_ONCE() for the pointer, and adding a NULL check as a safety net. 3. Converting tx_ring->flags from u8 to DECLARE_BITMAP() and using atomic bitops (set_bit(), clear_bit(), test_bit()) for all flag operations throughout the driver: - ICE_TX_RING_FLAGS_XDP - ICE_TX_RING_FLAGS_VLAN_L2TAG1 - ICE_TX_RING_FLAGS_VLAN_L2TAG2 - ICE_TX_RING_FLAGS_TXTIME

Weakness: CWE-362

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53008?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2026-53008?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-53008 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53008 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-53008, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53008, GHSA-gqxp-fj3h-cr3v, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53008.