# CVE-2026-53062: dm cache policy smq: fix missing locks in invalidating cache blocks

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's dm cache policy allows concurrent invalidation to cause use-after-free, potentially leading to code execution or system crashes.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53062, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53062, GHSA-4j2m-gfqm-629p, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-53062, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53062, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53062, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53062, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53062

## What is CVE-2026-53062?

CVE-2026-53062 is a high-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:

dm cache policy smq: fix missing locks in invalidating cache blocks

In passthrough mode, the policy invalidate_mapping operation is called
simultaneously from multiple workers, thus it should be protected by a
lock. Otherwise, we might end up with data races on the allocated blocks
counter, or even use-after-free issues with internal data structures
when doing concurrent writes.

Note that the existing FIXME in smq_invalidate_mapping() doesn't affect
passthrough mode since migration tasks don't exist there, but would need
attention if supporting fast device shrinking via suspend/resume without
target reloading.

Reproduce steps:

1. Create a cache device consisting of 1024 cache entries

dmsetup create cmeta --table "0 8192 linear /dev/sdc 0"
dmsetup create cdata --table "0 131072 linear /dev/sdc 8192"
dmsetup create corig --table "0 262144 linear /dev/sdc 262144"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mapper/cmeta bs=4k count=1 oflag=direct
dmsetup create cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 writethrough smq 0"

2. Populate the cache, and record the number of cached blocks

fio --name=populate --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --rw=randwrite --bs=4k \
--size=64m --direct=1
nr_cached=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{split($7, a, "/"); print a[1]}')

3. Reload the cache into passthrough mode

dmsetup suspend cache
dmsetup reload cache --table "0 262144 cache /dev/mapper/cmeta \
/dev/mapper/cdata /dev/mapper/corig 128 2 metadata2 passthrough smq 0"
dmsetup resume cache

4. Write to the passthrough cache. By setting multiple jobs with I/O
   size equal to the cache block size, cache blocks are invalidated
   concurrently from different workers.

fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=test --rw=randwrite --bs=64k \
--direct=1 --numjobs=2 --randrepeat=0 --size=64m

5. Check if demoted matches cached block count. These numbers should
   match but may differ due to the data race.

nr_demoted=$(dmsetup status cache | awk '{print $12}')
echo "$nr_cached, $nr_demoted"

Weakness: CWE-667 (Improper Locking), CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53062?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53062?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53062 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53062 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-2026-53062 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53062 is a high-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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53062 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-2026-53062/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53062/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53062
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53062
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53062

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53062/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.