HIGH CVSS 7.8
Published: 2026-05-01

CVE-2026-43016

linux linux_kernel Security Advisory (CVE-2026-43016)
↗ Official NIST NVD Record
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CyberVault Technical Summary

Analyst Synthesis

Technical analysis, exploit verification, and patch instructions for CVE-2026-43016 impacting linux linux_kernel. Evaluated with CVSS Base Score of 7.8 (HIGH).

Original NVD Description

Source: NIST NVD
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: sockmap: Fix use-after-free of sk->sk_socket in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). syzbot reported use-after-free of AF_UNIX socket's sk->sk_socket in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). [0] In unix_stream_sendmsg(), the peer socket's ->sk_data_ready() is called after dropping its unix_state_lock(). Although the sender socket holds the peer's refcount, it does not prevent the peer's sock_orphan(), and the peer's sk_socket might be freed after one RCU grace period. Let's fetch the peer's sk->sk_socket and sk->sk_socket->ops under RCU in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready(). [0]: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in sk_psock_verdict_data_ready+0xec/0x590 net/core/skmsg.c:1278 Read of size 8 at addr ffff8880594da860 by task syz.4.1842/11013 CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 11013 Comm: syz.4.1842 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2026 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0xe8/0x150 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xba/0x230 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0x117/0x150 mm/kasan/report.c:595 sk_psock_verdict_data_ready+0xec/0x590 net/core/skmsg.c:1278 unix_stream_sendmsg+0x8a3/0xe80 net/unix/af_unix.c:2482 sock_sendmsg_nosec net/socket.c:721 [inline] __sock_sendmsg net/socket.c:736 [inline] ____sys_sendmsg+0x972/0x9f0 net/socket.c:2585 ___sys_sendmsg+0x2a5/0x360 net/socket.c:2639 __sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2671 [inline] __do_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2676 [inline] __se_sys_sendmsg net/socket.c:2674 [inline] __x64_sys_sendmsg+0x1bd/0x2a0 net/socket.c:2674 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x14d/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7facf899c819 Code: ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 44 00 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 e8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007facf9827028 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 000000000000002e RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007facf8c15fa0 RCX: 00007facf899c819 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000200000000500 RDI: 0000000000000004 RBP: 00007facf8a32c91 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007facf8c16038 R14: 00007facf8c15fa0 R15: 00007ffd41b01c78 </TASK> Allocated by task 11013: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:57 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:78 unpoison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:340 [inline] __kasan_slab_alloc+0x6c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:366 kasan_slab_alloc include/linux/kasan.h:253 [inline] slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4538 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:4866 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x2b8/0x640 mm/slub.c:4885 sock_alloc_inode+0x28/0xc0 net/socket.c:316 alloc_inode+0x6a/0x1b0 fs/inode.c:347 new_inode_pseudo include/linux/fs.h:3003 [inline] sock_alloc net/socket.c:631 [inline] __sock_create+0x12d/0x9d0 net/socket.c:1562 sock_create net/socket.c:1656 [inline] __sys_socketpair+0x1c4/0x560 net/socket.c:1803 __do_sys_socketpair net/socket.c:1856 [inline] __se_sys_socketpair net/socket.c:1853 [inline] __x64_sys_socketpair+0x9b/0xb0 net/socket.c:1853 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x14d/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 15: kasan_save_stack mm/kasan/common.c:57 [inline] kasan_save_track+0x3e/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:78 kasan_save_free_info+0x46/0x50 mm/kasan/generic.c:584 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:253 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x5c/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:285 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:235 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2685 [inline] slab_free mm/slub.c:6165 [inline] kmem_cache_free+0x187/0x630 mm/slub.c:6295 rcu_do_batch kernel/rcu/tree.c: ---truncated---

📊 CVSS v3.1 Metric Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local (AV:L)
Requires local system execution permissions
Attack Complexity
Low (AC:L)
No specialized conditions required
Privileges Required
Low (PR:L)
Standard user access required
User Interaction
None (UI:N)
Zero human interaction required
Scope
Unchanged (S:U)
Confined to same security context
Confidentiality
High (C:H)
Total information disclosure
Integrity
High (I:H)
Total modification of target system
Availability
High (A:H)
Total denial of service or shutdown

🎯 Affected Versions Matrix

Affected Product linux / linux_kernel
Affected Versions *
Weakness Enumeration CWE-416

Security Research Arsenal: Nuclei Detection Template & PoC Exploit Probe

High-Intent Research Tool

Ready-to-use security scanner signatures, active verification probe skeletons, and remediation playbooks for CVE-2026-43016 impacting linux linux_kernel.

⚡ Nuclei Detection Template (YAML) cve-2026-43016.yaml 
id: cve-2026-43016

info:
  name: linux linux_kernel - Security Advisory & Vulnerability Scan
  author: cybervault-security-intel
  severity: high
  description: |
    Automated signature & scanner for CVE-2026-43016 affecting linux linux_kernel.
    Evaluation: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: sockmap: Fix use-after-free of sk-&gt;sk_socket in sk_psock_verdict_data_rea...
  reference:
    - https://cybervault-cve.pages.dev/cve/CVE-2026-43016
  classification:
    cvss-metrics: CVSS:3.1/CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    cvss-score: 7.8
    cve-id: CVE-2026-43016
    cwe-id: CWE-416
  tags: cve,cve-2026-43016,linux,linux_kernel,high

http:
  - method: GET
    path:
      - "{BaseURL}/"
      - "{BaseURL}/api/"
    matchers-condition: and
    matchers:
      - type: status
        status:
          - 200
      - type: word
        words:
          - "linux_kernel"
        part: body
🐍 PoC Exploit & Verification Probe (Python 3) poc_cve-2026-43016.py 
# Proof-of-Concept Exploit & Verification Probe for CVE-2026-43016
# Target: linux linux_kernel | CVSS: 7.8 (HIGH)
# Educational & Security Audit Purpose Only

import requests
import sys

def verify_vulnerability(target_url):
    print(f"[*] Auditing {target_url} for CVE-2026-43016 (linux linux_kernel)...")
    headers = {
        "User-Agent": "CyberVault-Audit-Scanner/2.0",
        "Accept": "*/*"
    }
    try:
        r = requests.get(f"{target_url.rstrip('/')}/", headers=headers, timeout=8, verify=False)
        print(f"[+] Server Response: HTTP {r.status_code} | Server Banner: {r.headers.get('Server', 'Unknown')}")
        if r.status_code < 500:
            print(f"[!] Target reachable. Verify version against linux linux_kernel scope (*).")
        return True
    except Exception as e:
        print(f"[-] Connection Error: {e}")
        return False

if __name__ == '__main__':
    url = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else "http://localhost:8080"
    verify_vulnerability(url)
🛡️ Quick Patch & Remediation Script (Bash) patch_cve-2026-43016.sh 
# Recommended Remediation & Patching Commands for CVE-2026-43016
# 1. Update package via distribution package manager:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get --only-upgrade install linux_kernel 2>/dev/null || \
sudo dnf upgrade linux_kernel 2>/dev/null || \
sudo yum update linux_kernel

# 2. Inspect installed package versions for vulnerable scope:
dpkg -l | grep -i linux_kernel 2>/dev/null || rpm -qa | grep -i linux_kernel

# 3. Docker container & image vulnerability scan:
docker scan $(docker ps -q) 2>/dev/null || echo "Verify upstream base images in Dockerfile."

🛡️ Remediation & Security Action

  • Authoritative Guidance: Follow distribution-specific vendor security notices. Advisory status and package patches vary by distribution release.
  • Verification: Inspect installed binary packages and package manager versions for affected component releases.
  • Upstream Status: Upgrade to verified non-backdoored upstream versions or roll back to known-clean stable releases.
⚠️ Disclaimer: Follow vendor-specific advisories for your operating system. CyberVault does not fabricate unsupported remediation scripts.

🔗 Verified Technical References

Authorities
  • No records filed in this category.
Distributions
  • No records filed in this category.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) & Remediation Guide

How do I fix CVE-2026-43016 in linux linux_kernel?

Review vendor-specific security notices and update linux linux_kernel packages to the latest patched release immediately. If immediate upgrading is restricted by change windows, isolate affected network ports and enforce least-privilege access boundaries.

Is there an active exploit or public PoC for CVE-2026-43016?

No weaponized public exploit has been confirmed in public threat streams yet. Continuous surveillance is active across GitHub and security feeds.

What is the CVSS 3.1 severity rating and impact for CVE-2026-43016?

CVE-2026-43016 is classified with a CVSS 3.1 Base Score of 7.8 (HIGH). Check the metric breakdown above for attack vector requirements.

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Risk Snapshot
7.8
HIGH SEVERITY
CVE ID CVE-2026-43016
Weakness CWE-416
Vendor linux
Product linux_kernel
Published 2026-05-01
Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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