# CVE-2026-53162: memcg: use round-robin victim selection in refill_stock

> A race condition in Linux kernel memory cgroup charging during NMI context can corrupt random state, leading to system instability or denial of service.

- **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:** 25 Jun 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53162, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53162, GHSA-9mhf-2p25-mwm3, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53162

## What is CVE-2026-53162?

CVE-2026-53162 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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:

memcg: use round-robin victim selection in refill_stock

Harry Yoo reported that get_random_u32_below() is not safe to call in the
nmi context and memcg charge draining can happen in nmi context.

More specifically get_random_u32_below() is neither reentrant- nor
NMI-safe: it acquires a per-cpu local_lock via local_lock_irqsave() on the
batched_entropy_u32 state.  An NMI that lands on a CPU mid-update of the
ChaCha batch state and recurses into the random subsystem would corrupt
that state.  The memcg_stock local_trylock prevents re-entry on the percpu
stock itself, but cannot protect an unrelated subsystem's per-cpu lock.

Replace the random pick with a per-cpu round-robin counter stored in
memcg_stock_pcp and serialized by the same local_trylock that already
guards cached[] and nr_pages[].  No atomics, no random calls, no extra
locks needed.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53162?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53162?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53162 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53162 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-2026-53162 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53162 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 25 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-2026-53162 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-2026-53162/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53162/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53162
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53162
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53162

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53162/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.