CVE-2026-53265

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's device mapper (DM) cache policy. A race condition exists where two processes attempting to invalidate cache blocks concurrently can lead to memory corruption. This can result in a local denial of service, causing the system to crash, or potentially corrupting storage cache data. A local attacker with access to the cached block device could exploit this vulnerability.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact because exploitation requires local system access with privileges to manipulate device-mapper cache targets, confining the outcome to local denial of service through a system crash or storage-layer corruption rather than remote compromise. Device-mapper caching using the SMQ policy is not enabled by default on standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations, significantly limiting the exposed surface to environments specifically configured with dm-cache. Consequently, systems that do not employ device-mapper caching remain unaffected during routine operations.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.