# CVE-2026-64163: test_kprobes: clear kprobes between test runs

> Repeated execution of kprobes sanity tests causes kernel crashes due to uncleared probe state, leading to denial of service.

- **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-2026-64163, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64163, GHSA-9292-g249-69fp, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64163

## What is CVE-2026-64163?

CVE-2026-64163 is a medium-severity denial of service 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:

test_kprobes: clear kprobes between test runs

Running the kprobes sanity tests twice makes all tests fail and
eventually crashes the kernel.

[root@martin-riscv-1 ~]# echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/kunit/kprobes_test/run
...
   # Totals: pass:5 fail:0 skip:0 total:5
   ok 1 kprobes_test
[root@martin-riscv-1 ~]# echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/kunit/kprobes_test/run
...
  # test_kprobe: EXPECTATION FAILED at lib/tests/test_kprobes.c:64
  Expected 0 == register_kprobe(&kp), but
      register_kprobe(&kp) == -22 (0xffffffffffffffea)
...
  Unable to handle kernel paging request ...

The testsuite defines several kprobes and kretprobes as static variables
that are preserved across test runs.

After register_kprobe and unregister_kprobe, a kprobe contains some
leftover data that must be cleared before the kprobe can be registered
again. The tests are setting symbol_name to define the probe location.
Address and flags must be cleared.

The existing code clears some of the probes between subsequent tests, but
not between two test runs. The leftover data from a previous test run
makes the registrations fail in the next run.

Move the cleanups for all kprobes into kprobes_test_init, this function
is called before each single test (including the first test of a test
run).

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64163?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-64163?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-64163 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64163 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-2026-64163 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-64163 is a medium-severity denial of service 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-2026-64163 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-2026-64163/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64163/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-64163
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-64163
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-64163

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-64163/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.