# CVE-2026-53370: perf/x86/intel: Improve validation and configuration of ACR masks

> Incomplete validation of Intel ACR masks in the Linux kernel perf subsystem could lead to incorrect hardware configuration or potential 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:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Jul 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-53370, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-53370, GHSA-6xq9-44c7-g88v, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-53370

## What is CVE-2026-53370?

CVE-2026-53370 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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:

perf/x86/intel: Improve validation and configuration of ACR masks

Currently there are several issues on the user space ACR mask validation
and configuration.
- The validation for user space ACR mask (attr.config2) is incomplete,
  e.g., the ACR mask could include the index which belongs to another
  ACR events group, but it's not validated.
- An early return on an invalid ACR mask caused all subsequent ACR groups
  to be skipped.
- The stale hardware ACR mask (hw.config1) is not cleared before setting
  new hardware ACR mask.

The following changes address all of the above issues.
- Figure out the event index group of an ACR group. Any bits in the
  user-space mask not present in the index group are now dropped.
- Instead of an early return on invalid bits, drop only the invalid
  portions and continue iterating through all ACR events to ensure full
  configuration.
- Explicitly clear the stale hardware ACR mask for each event prior to
  writing the new configuration.

Besides, a non-leader event member of ACR group could be disabled in
theory. This could cause bit-shifting errors in the acr_mask of remaining
group members. But since ACR sampling requires all events to be active,
this should not be a big concern in real use case. Add a "FIXME" comment
to notice this risk.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53370?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-53370?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-53370 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53370 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-2026-53370 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-53370 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 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-2026-53370 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-2026-53370/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53370/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-53370
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53370
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-53370

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53370/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.