Privilege escalation via io_uring provided-buffer use-after-free
Published Feb 24, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux io_uring allows local users to escalate privileges through crafted provided-buffer IORING_OP_READ requests. When a read returns a negative error other than -EAGAIN or -EIOCBQUEUED, IORING_OP_READ fails to consume the buffer list before io_rw_done completes in another context. Unprivileged local syscall access is sufficient; successful exploitation can disclose or corrupt kernel memory, gain elevated privileges, or panic the host.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux io_uring allows local users to escalate privileges through crafted provided-buffer IORING_OP_READ requests. When a read returns a negative error other than -EAGAIN or -EIOCBQUEUED, IORING_OP_READ fails to consume the buffer list before io_rw_done completes in another context. Unprivileged local syscall access is sufficient; successful exploitation can disclose or corrupt kernel memory, gain elevated privileges, or panic the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-52926
- Published
- Feb 24, 2025
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 24, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=2b188cc1bb857a9d4701ae59aa7768b5124e262e <6c27fc6a783c8a77c756dd5461b15e465020d075
- Affected versionversion=2b188cc1bb857a9d4701ae59aa7768b5124e262e <72060434a14caea20925e492310d6e680e3f9007
- Affected versionversion=2b188cc1bb857a9d4701ae59aa7768b5124e262e <a08d195b586a217d76b42062f88f375a3eedda4d
- Affected versionversion=5.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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