High [CVE-2026-53157] free phonet_device after RCU grace period
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-53157 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat package: kernel.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: phonet: free phonet_device after RCU grace period phonet_device_destroy() removes a phonet_device from the per-net device list with list_del_rcu(), but frees it immediately.
RCU readers walking the same list can still hold a pointer to the object after it has been removed, leading to a slab-use-after-free. Use kfree_rcu(), matching the lifetime rule already used by phonet_address_del() for the same object type.
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's phonet networking subsystem. This vulnerability occurs because a phonet device is freed immediately after being removed from a list, while other parts of the kernel (RCU readers) may still hold a pointer to the freed memory.
This can lead to a use-after-free condition, potentially allowing a local attacker to cause a denial of service or escalate privileges. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 7 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-825. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Will not fix / out of support: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat package: kernel.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 9 days ago·verify at source
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