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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23086

high Nessus Plugin ID 297921

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

 - vsock/virtio: cap TX credit to local buffer size The virtio transports derives its TX credit directly from peer_buf_alloc, which is set from the remote endpoint's SO_VM_SOCKETS_BUFFER_SIZE value. On the host side this means that the amount of data we are willing to queue for a connection is scaled by a guest-chosen buffer size, rather than the host's own vsock configuration. A malicious guest can advertise a large buffer and read slowly, causing the host to allocate a correspondingly large amount of sk_buff memory. The same thing would happen in the guest with a malicious host, since virtio transports share the same code base. Introduce a small helper, virtio_transport_tx_buf_size(), that returns min(peer_buf_alloc, buf_alloc), and use it wherever we consume peer_buf_alloc. This ensures the effective TX window is bounded by both the peer's advertised buffer and our own buf_alloc (already clamped to buffer_max_size via SO_VM_SOCKETS_BUFFER_MAX_SIZE), so a remote peer cannot force the other to queue more data than allowed by its own vsock settings. On an unpatched Ubuntu 22.04 host (~64 GiB RAM), running a PoC with 32 guest vsock connections advertising 2 GiB each and reading slowly drove Slab/SUnreclaim from ~0.5 GiB to ~57 GiB; the system only recovered after killing the QEMU process. That said, if QEMU memory is limited with cgroups, the maximum memory used will be limited. With this patch applied: Before: MemFree: ~61.6 GiB Slab: ~142 MiB SUnreclaim: ~117 MiB After 32 high-credit connections: MemFree: ~61.5 GiB Slab: ~178 MiB SUnreclaim:
 ~152 MiB Only ~35 MiB increase in Slab/SUnreclaim, no host OOM, and the guest remains responsive.
 Compatibility with non-virtio transports: - VMCI uses the AF_VSOCK buffer knobs to size its queue pairs per socket based on the local vsk->buffer_* values; the remote side cannot enlarge those queues beyond what the local endpoint configured. - Hyper-V's vsock transport uses fixed-size VMBus ring buffers and an MTU bound; there is no peer-controlled credit field comparable to peer_buf_alloc, and the remote endpoint cannot drive in-flight kernel memory above those ring sizes. - The loopback path reuses virtio_transport_common.c, so it naturally follows the same semantics as the virtio transport. This change is limited to virtio_transport_common.c and thus affects virtio-vsock, vhost-vsock, and loopback, bringing them in line with the remote window intersected with local policy behaviour that VMCI and Hyper-V already effectively have. [Stefano: small adjustments after changing the previous patch] [Stefano: tweak the commit message] (CVE-2026-23086)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2026-23086

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-23086

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 297921

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_23086.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 2/4/2026

Updated: 2/4/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: High

Score: 7.1

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.9

Temporal Score: 4.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-23086

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.8

Temporal Score: 7.1

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-kdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-modules-internal, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:9, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:libperf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-kdump, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libperf-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:python-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-bootwrapper, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel-matched, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-bootwrapper, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-whitelists, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-cross-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-extra-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-cross-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-extra, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:14.0, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-abi-whitelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rv, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:libperf-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-headers, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libperf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-ipaclones-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rtla, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rtla, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-selftests-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-ipaclones-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:rv, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-partner, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:perf, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:bpftool, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-internal, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-trace-kvm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-kdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-partner, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-trace-devel, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-kvm

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 2/4/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-23086