🛡️ CVE-2026-23074 on Debian — linux
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: Enforce that teql can only be used as root qdisc Design intent of teql is that it is only supposed to be used as root qdisc. We need to check for that constraint. Although not important, I will describe the scenario that unearthed this issue for the curious. GangMin Kim <km.kim1503@gmail.com> managed to concot a scenario as follows: ROOT qdisc 1:0 (QFQ) ├── class 1:1 (weight=15, lmax=16384) netem with delay 6.4s └── class 1:2 (weight=1, lmax=1514) teql GangMin sends a packet which is enqueued to 1:1 (netem). Any invocation of dequeue by QFQ from this class will not return a packet until after 6.4s. In the meantime, a second packet is sent and it lands on 1:2. teql's enqueue will return success and this will activate class 1:2. Main issue is that teql only updates the parent visible qlen (sch->q.qlen) at dequeue. Since QFQ will only call dequeue if peek succeeds (and teql's peek always returns NULL), dequeue will never be called and thus the qlen will remain as 0. With that in mind, when GangMin updates 1:2's lmax value, the qfq_change_class calls qfq_deact_rm_from_agg. Since the child qdisc's qlen was not incremented, qfq fails to deactivate the class, but still frees its pointers from the aggregate. So when the first packet is rescheduled after 6.4 seconds (netem's delay), a dangling pointer is accessed causing GangMin's causing a UAF.
Distribution advisory
This page covers CVE-2026-23074 as tracked by Debian, for the package linux. The fix is available in version 6.18.8-1; earlier versions remain affected.
How this vulnerability can be exploited
This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs low-level privileges on the target. No user interaction is required. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity high, availability high.
Affected software
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23074 is recorded against 2 packages.
- linux (fixed in 6.18.8-1)
- linux-6.1 (fixed in 6.1.162-1~deb11u1)
Timeline and source
Published on 4 February 2026 and last revised on 4 August 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. Record sourced from OSV.
References
CVE-2026-23074 on other distributions
Each distribution ships its own build and its own fixed version. Pick the one you run:
Details
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected Packages
| Software | From version | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| linux | — | 6.18.8-1 |
| linux-6.1 | — | 6.1.162-1~deb11u1 |
References
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