CVE-2026-23184: binder: fix UAF in binder_netlink_report()

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 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: 2026-02-14 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-416

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: binder: fix UAF in binder_netlink_report() Oneway transactions sent to frozen targets via binder_proc_transaction() return a BR_TRANSACTION_PENDING_FROZEN error but they are still treated as successful since the target is expected to thaw at some point. It is then not safe to access 't' after BR_TRANSACTION_PENDING_FROZEN errors as the transaction could have been consumed by the now thawed target. This is the case for binder_netlink_report() which derreferences 't' after a pending frozen error, as pointed out by the following KASAN report: ================================================================== BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in binder_netlink_report.isra.0+0x694/0x6c8 Read of size 8 at addr ffff00000f98ba38 by task binder-util/522 CPU: 4 UID: 0 PID: 522 Comm: binder-util Not tainted 6.19.0-rc6-00015-gc03e9c42ae8f #1 PREEMPT Hardware name: linux,dummy-virt (DT) Call trace: binder_netlink_report.isra.0+0x694/0x6c8 binder_transaction+0x66e4/0x79b8 binder_thread_write+0xab4/0x4440 binder_ioctl+0x1fd4/0x2940 [...] Allocated by task 522: __kmalloc_cache_noprof+0x17c/0x50c binder_transaction+0x584/0x79b8 binder_thread_write+0xab4/0x4440 binder_ioctl+0x1fd4/0x2940 [...] Freed by task 488: kfree+0x1d0/0x420 binder_free_transaction+0x150/0x234 binder_thread_read+0x2d08/0x3ce4 binder_ioctl+0x488/0x2940 [...] ================================================================== Instead, make a transaction copy so the data can be safely accessed by binder_netlink_report() after a pending frozen error. While here, add a comment about not using t->buffer in binder_netlink_report().

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.18 before 6.18.10; 6.19-rc1, 6.19-rc2, 6.19-rc3, 6.19-rc4, 6.19-rc5, 6.19-rc6 (+2) — fixed in 6.18.10

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.18.10. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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