Local memory exhaustion via secretmem accounting bypass
Published Sep 24, 2026 · Updated Sep 24, 2026
Resource accounting in Linux allows local users to exhaust system memory through repeated secretmem mapping and unmapping. Unmapping decrements RLIMIT_MEMLOCK accounting even though AS_UNEVICTABLE keeps the folios resident until inode eviction, and RSS omits them. A local account able to create secretmem file descriptors is sufficient; repeated mapping, unmapping, or forking can consume available memory and destabilize the host.
Summary
What happened
Resource accounting in Linux allows local users to exhaust system memory through repeated secretmem mapping and unmapping. Unmapping decrements RLIMIT_MEMLOCK accounting even though AS_UNEVICTABLE keeps the folios resident until inode eviction, and RSS omits them. A local account able to create secretmem file descriptors is sufficient; repeated mapping, unmapping, or forking can consume available memory and destabilize the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-93243
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 24, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 <3b4f72bdddff69819d665395376329ef21f37a06
- Affected versionversion=1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 <853043cb129473ff2fa0090602be944d96b9d5c9
- Affected versionversion=1507f51255c9ff07d75909a84e7c0d7f3c4b2f49 <97d34aa65c29cca85e3e9050f4c936389b38a054
- Affected versionversion=5.14
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Get started