CVE-2026-23014: perf: Ensure swevent hrtimer is properly destroyed

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-01-28 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf: Ensure swevent hrtimer is properly destroyed With the change to hrtimer_try_to_cancel() in perf_swevent_cancel_hrtimer() it appears possible for the hrtimer to still be active by the time the event gets freed. Make sure the event does a full hrtimer_cancel() on the free path by installing a perf_event::destroy handler.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.17.8 before 6.18; from 6.18.1 before 6.18.6; 6.18, 6.19-rc1, 6.19-rc2, 6.19-rc3, 6.19-rc4, 6.19-rc5 (+3) — fixed in 6.18, 6.18.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.18, 6.18.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2026-23014 or the next vulnerability affects your stack