Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability

Linux Kernel contains an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in the ebtables SNAT target which allows an ARP sender hardware address rewrite to write directly into a nonlinear socket-buffer fragment backed by a splice-imported file page. The impacted product(s) could be end-of-life (EoL) and/or end-of-service (EoS). Users are advised to discontinue use and/or transition to a supported version.

Why it matters

• This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means it has been observed being exploited in the wild.

Affected

• Vendor: Linux
• Product: Kernel
• Identifier: CVE-2026-53266
• FlawFind severity: high
• Weakness: CWE-787

What to do

• Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.
• U.S. federal remediation deadline: 2026-09-21
• Inventory the affected product, prioritise internet-facing instances, and patch or mitigate immediately.
• Audit your own systems for the same weakness class — FlawFind can test your applications and APIs for it and prove what is exploitable.

Notes

This vulnerability affects an open-source component, third-party library, protocol, or proprietary implementation that could be used by different products. For more information, please see: ; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bf84ad7c7a9ede46e31afaa41a1ba06a159e8c87; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76280b78cc9f23bdc6438e10ad6dff148ef8375b; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7e91939ba9be805a62a257fa4e227dffbb88fa0; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/afd64b59c3de9bbbdd3759e834fdc55cda716e0b; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/153ea96c806aea395daba907a4f88480b6ad5093; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b18675263db1147c8e1cab625400c13a0d87bd2d; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9b5ff59feffb92a147a84a5aa28acd2cb8ff4c5; https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/67ba971ae02514d85818fe0c32549ab4bfa3bf49 ; BOD 26-04: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk ; Forensics Triage Requirements: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-implementation-guidance-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53266