# CVE-2026-53064: dm cache: fix null-deref with concurrent writes in passthrough mode

> A local attacker can cause a kernel crash via null pointer dereference in dm-cache passthrough mode during concurrent writes.

- **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:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 24 Jun 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53064, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53064, GHSA-qvxh-98q9-x4j8, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-53064, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-53064, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-53064, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-53064, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53064

## What is CVE-2026-53064?

CVE-2026-53064 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:

dm cache: fix null-deref with concurrent writes in passthrough mode

In passthrough mode, when dm-cache starts to invalidate a cache
entry and bio prison cell lock fails due to concurrent write to
the same cached block, mg->cell remains NULL. The error path in
invalidate_complete() attempts to unlock and free the cell
unconditionally, causing a NULL pointer dereference:

KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007]
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 134 Comm: fio Not tainted 6.19.0-rc7 #3 PREEMPT
RIP: 0010:dm_cell_unlock_v2+0x3f/0x210
<snip>
Call Trace:
 invalidate_complete+0xef/0x430
 map_bio+0x130f/0x1a10
 cache_map+0x320/0x6b0
 __map_bio+0x458/0x510
 dm_submit_bio+0x40e/0x16d0
 __submit_bio+0x419/0x870
<snip>

Reproduce steps:

1. Create a cache device

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. Promote the first data block into cache

fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name=populate --rw=write --bs=4k \
--direct=1 --size=64k

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 first cached block concurrently

fio --filename=/dev/mapper/cache --name test --rw=randwrite --bs=4k \
--randrepeat=0 --direct=1 --numjobs=2 --size 64k

Fix by checking if mg->cell is valid before attempting to unlock it.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53064?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53064?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53064 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53064 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-2026-53064 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53064 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53064 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-2026-53064/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53064/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53064
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53064
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53064

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53064/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.