Vulnerability Database

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CVE-2026-53116 — linux / linux_kernel

Use After Free

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

s390/ap: use generic driver_override infrastructure

When the AP masks are updated via apmask_store() or aqmask_store(), ap_bus_revise_bindings() is called after ap_attr_mutex has been released.

This calls __ap_revise_reserved(), which accesses the driver_override field without holding any lock, racing against a concurrent driver_override_store() that may free the old string, resulting in a potential UAF.

Fix this by using the driver-core driver_override infrastructure, which protects all accesses with an internal spinlock.

Note that unlike most other buses, the AP bus does not check driver_override in its match() callback; the override is checked in ap_device_probe() and __ap_revise_reserved() instead.

Also note that we do not enable the driver_override feature of struct bus_type, as AP - in contrast to most other buses - passes "" to sysfs_emit() when the driver_override pointer is NULL. Thus, printing "\n" instead of "(null)\n".

Additionally, AP has a custom counter that is modified in the corresponding custom driver_override_store().

  • Published: Jun 24, 2026
  • Updated: Oct 17, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2026-53116
  • Severity: High
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: High
  • Score: 7.8
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

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