CVE-2026-53164: linux kernel vulnerability

What is known

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu/dma: Do not try to iommu_map a 0 length region in swiotlb iommu_dma_iova_link_swiotlb() processes a mapping that is unaligned in three parts, the head, middle and trailer. If the middle is empty because there are no aligned pages it will call down to iommu_map() with a 0 size which the iommupt implementation will fail as illegal. It then tries to do an error unwind and starts from the wrong spot corrupting the mapping so the eventual destruction triggers a WARN_ON. Check for 0 length and avoid mapping and use offset not 0 as the starting point to unlink. This is frequently triggered by using some kinds of thunderbolt NVMe drives that trigger forced SWIOTLB for unaligned memory. NVMe seems to pass in oddly aligned buffers for the passthrough commands from smartctl that hit this condition.

Business impact

Successful exploitation of CVE-2026-53164, a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.5) affecting linux kernel, may affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of the vulnerable environment. The exact impact depends on the installed version, exposed interfaces and deployment configuration.

Recommended administrator action

Confirm whether linux kernel is present and compare installed versions with the vendor advisory and NVD record. Apply the vendor patch or documented mitigation; until remediation is complete, reduce exposure of affected interfaces, review relevant logs and monitor for indicators of exploitation. DataHouse can support version verification, managed patching, network exposure reduction, log review and backup validation for dedicated, cloud and colocated environments.

Sources

• NVD
• Reference
• Reference
• Reference