CVE-2026-23352: x86/efi: defer freeing of boot services memory

Published Mar 25, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

x86/efi: defer freeing of boot services memory

efifreebootservices() frees memory occupied by EFIBOOTSERVICESCODE and EFIBOOTSERVICESDATA using memblockfreelate().

There are two issue with that: memblockfreelate() should be used for memory allocated with memblockalloc() while the memory reserved with memblockreserve() should be freed with freereservedarea().

More acutely, with CONFIGDEFERREDSTRUCTPAGEINIT=y efifreebootservices() is called before deferred initialization of the memory map is complete.

Benjamin Herrenschmidt reports that this causes a leak of ~140MB of RAM on EC2 t3a.nano instances which only have 512MB or RAM.

If the freed memory resides in the areas that memory map for them is still uninitialized, they won't be actually freed because memblockfreelate() calls memblockfreepages() and the latter skips uninitialized pages.

Using freereservedarea() at this point is also problematic because freepage() accesses the buddy of the freed page and that again might end up in uninitialized part of the memory map.

Delaying the entire efifreebootservices() could be problematic because in addition to freeing boot services memory it updates efi.memmap without any synchronization and that's undesirable late in boot when there is concurrency.

More robust approach is to only defer freeing of the EFI boot services memory.

Split efifreebootservices() in two. First efiunmapbootservices() collects ranges that should be freed into an array then efifreebootservices() later frees them after deferred init is complete.

Affected Software

20 affected componentsFixes available
Linux Linux kernel
Microsoft azl3 kernel 6.6.126.1-1
Linux Linux kernel>=3.0.1<5.10.253
Linux Linux kernel>=5.11<5.15.203
Linux Linux kernel>=5.16<6.1.167
Linux Linux kernel>=6.2<6.6.130
Linux Linux kernel>=6.7<6.12.77
Linux Linux kernel>=6.13<6.18.17
Linux Linux kernel>=6.19<6.19.7
Linux Linux kernel=2.6.39.1
Linux Linux kernel=3.0
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc1
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc2
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc3
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc4
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc5
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc6
Linux Linux kernel=7.0-rc7
Microsoft azl3 kernel 6.6.126.1-1<6.6.130.1-1
6.6.130.1-1
debian/linux
6.1.176-16.1.190-16.12.107-16.12.115-27.2.12-17.2.15-1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 6.6.130.1-1
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade debian/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 6.1.176-1Fixed in 6.1.190-1Fixed in 6.12.107-1Fixed in 6.12.113-1Fixed in 7.2.12-1Fixed in 7.2.13-1
  3. Compensating control

    Defer freeing EFI boot services memory until deferred initialization is complete: split efi_free_boot_services() so efi_unmap_boot_services() first collects ranges, then efi_free_boot_services() frees them later without updating efi.memmap during concurrent late boot.

Event History

Mar 25, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·10:27 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·10:27 AM
Description
Data Sourced
via NVD·11:16 AM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
Mar 26, 2026
Data Sourced
via Microsoft·08:04 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Peer vulnerabilities

Found alongside the following vulnerabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2026-23352?

CVE-2026-23352 is categorized as a vulnerability that affects memory management in the Linux kernel.

2

How do I fix CVE-2026-23352?

To mitigate CVE-2026-23352, update to the latest version of the Linux kernel that addresses this specific vulnerability.

3

What systems are affected by CVE-2026-23352?

CVE-2026-23352 affects systems running specific versions of the Linux kernel, particularly those utilizing EFI boot services.

4

What are the potential risks of CVE-2026-23352?

CVE-2026-23352 may lead to unintentional memory leaks or instability in the operating system during boot processes.

5

How can I determine if my system is vulnerable to CVE-2026-23352?

Check the version of the Linux kernel running on your system against the advisories related to CVE-2026-23352 for confirmation.

Contact

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