CVE-2026-43402
CriticalSummary
A vulnerability has been identified in the Linux kernel related to improper management of kthread exit paths, leading to a use-after-free issue. The problem was reported during KUnit testing, where crashes occurred due to corrupted RCU callback function pointers.
Risk Assessment
This vulnerability may lead to system crashes and potential exploitation by malicious software, posing a threat to the stability and security of the operating system.
Recommendation
It is recommended to update the Linux kernel to the latest version where this vulnerability has been patched to minimize the risk associated with its exploitation.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-56906High
In the ep_free function in eventpoll.c, there is a possible use-after-free due to a race condition. This could lead to local privilege escalation with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.
- CVE-2026-98048Unknown
In the Linux kernel's BPF subsystem, mark_fastcall_pattern_for_call() must ensure that a matched "spill; call; fill" instruction series is not interrupted by a jump. Otherwise the rewrite applied by bpf_remove_fastcall_spills_fills() is unsound. The fix records instructions targeted by jumps in insn_aux_data[*].jump_target and uses this flag to stop growing a pattern.
- CVE-2026-98047Unknown
In the Linux kernel's BPF subsystem, in_rbtree_lock_required_cb() only checks the innermost verifier frame, so rbtree callback restrictions disappear in a nested static subprogram call frame. The subprogram can unlock the tree, remove and drop the node being compared, then relock, leading to freed memory being linked into the tree.
- CVE-2026-98045Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a BPF verifier vulnerability affects stack helpers that may block on filesystem reads (e.g., resolving build IDs) but were not marked as sleepable. The verifier could still allow these helpers from non-sleepable regions such as RCU or preemption-disabled sections.
- CVE-2026-98044Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier mishandled legacy packet-load instructions (BPF_LD_ABS/BPF_LD_IND) reached from callbacks, triggering a verifier bug warning and an -EFAULT on BPF_PROG_LOAD. A privileged program loader could trigger this issue.
- CVE-2026-98043Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier incorrectly inferred that a pointer with an unbounded offset is non-NULL based solely on its type. As a result, a BPF program could pass verification while a NULL pointer dereference occurred at runtime.
- CVE-2026-98042Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier could resurrect a scalar id dropped by collect_linked_regs() because snapshots of compared registers were taken before linked registers were collected. This could lead to range inconsistencies and precision propagation issues.
- CVE-2026-98041High
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier incorrectly predicted the outcome of pointer vs zero comparisons in JMP32 instructions, failing to distinguish BPF_JMP from BPF_JMP32 comparisons. This led to incorrect inference that a jump is always taken.
- CVE-2026-98040Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier did not mark the zero register as precise for a register-form NULL check. As a result, one path was pruned and the program could dereference a zero pointer at runtime.
- CVE-2026-98039Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the BPF verifier did not require the MEM_PERCPU flag for stores to percpu kptr fields, accepting both plain bpf_obj_new() allocations and kernel pointers. This could lead to arbitrary kernel read/write or invalid address relocation.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kthread: consolidate kthread exit paths to prevent use-after-free Guillaume reported crashes via corrupted RCU callback function pointers during KUnit testing. The crash was traced back to the pidfs rhashtable conversion which replaced the 24-byte rb_node with an 8-byte rhash_head in struct pid, shrinking it from 160 to 144 bytes. struct kthread (without CONFIG_BLK_CGROUP) is also 144 bytes. With CONFIG_SLAB_MERGE_DEFAULT and SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN both round up to 192 bytes and share the same slab cache. struct pid.rcu.func and struct kthread.affinity_node both sit at offset 0x78. When a kthread exits via make_task_dead() it bypasses kthread_exit() and misses the affinity_node cleanup. free_kthread_struct() frees the memory while the node is still linked into the global kthread_affinity_list. A subsequent list_del() by another kthread writes through dangling list pointers into the freed and reused memory, corrupting t
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

