CVE-2026-23057: vsock/virtio: Coalesce only linear skb

Severity: unknown
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-02-04 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: vsock/virtio: Coalesce only linear skb vsock/virtio common tries to coalesce buffers in rx queue: if a linear skb (with a spare tail room) is followed by a small skb (length limited by GOOD_COPY_LEN = 128), an attempt is made to join them. Since the introduction of MSG_ZEROCOPY support, assumption that a small skb will always be linear is incorrect. In the zerocopy case, data is lost and the linear skb is appended with uninitialized kernel memory. Of all 3 supported virtio-based transports, only loopback-transport is affected. G2H virtio-transport rx queue operates on explicitly linear skbs; see virtio_vsock_alloc_linear_skb() in virtio_vsock_rx_fill(). H2G vhost-transport may allocate non-linear skbs, but only for sizes that are not considered for coalescence; see PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER in virtio_vsock_alloc_skb(). Ensure only linear skbs are coalesced. Note that skb_tailroom(last_skb) > 0 guarantees last_skb is linear.

Affected products

Linux kernel: 6.7 — fixed in 6.19

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.19. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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