Local service hang via shmem truncate retry loop
Published Feb 14, 2026 · Updated Feb 14, 2026
Infinite-loop denial of service in Linux Kernel 6.12 allows local users to hang a truncation operation involving a large swap entry. The shmem truncation path passes an index from the middle of a large swap entry to shmem_free_swap(), then retries that unchanged index after a base-index mismatch, so find_get_entries() returns the same entry forever. Reaching the loop requires local low-privilege access, a large swap entry, and the truncation race; the resulting impact is an availability hang.
Summary
What happened
Infinite-loop denial of service in Linux Kernel 6.12 allows local users to hang a truncation operation involving a large swap entry. The shmem truncation path passes an index from the middle of a large swap entry to shmem_free_swap(), then retries that unchanged index after a base-index mismatch, so find_get_entries() returns the same entry forever. Reaching the loop requires local low-privilege access, a large swap entry, and the truncation race; the resulting impact is an availability hang.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-23177
- Published
- Feb 14, 2026
- Updated
- Feb 14, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 14, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 14, 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=6.12
- Affected versionversion=809bc86517cc408b5b8cb8e08e69096639432bc8 <2030dddf95451b4e7a389f052091e7c4b7b274c6
- Affected versionversion=809bc86517cc408b5b8cb8e08e69096639432bc8 <7b6a0f121d50234aab3e7ab9a62ebe826d40a32a
- Affected versionversion=809bc86517cc408b5b8cb8e08e69096639432bc8 <dfc3ab6bd64860f8022d69903be299d09be86e11
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
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