CVE-2026-46242
HighCVSS 7.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Very high risk91th percentile - higher than 91% of all known CVEs
Summary
A use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's eventpoll (epoll) mechanism. The bug occurs in ep_remove() which, after clearing the file->f_ep pointer, may still use the file structure while a concurrent __fput() can free it, leading to writes into freed memory. An attacker can exploit this to trigger a controlled kmem_cache_free() on the wrong slab cache.
Risk Assessment
The organization is at risk of potential arbitrary code execution in kernel space or system crash (kernel panic) via a local attack with user privileges. This flaw could enable privilege escalation or system destabilization.
Recommendation
Immediately update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix (commit in the mainline). Monitor distributions for the patch release and apply it after testing in a non-production environment.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-98432Unknown
A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's IPv4 TCP socket option handling. The ireq_opt options are freed with a plain kfree() even though other CPUs may still access them under RCU (e.g., when building a SYNACK or creating a child socket), leading to a use-after-free in ip_options_build(). The issue also affects request socket migration (tcp_migrate_req).
- CVE-2026-98431Unknown
The Linux kernel contains an ABBA deadlock between the mmap_lock and disassociation_lock in the RDMA/uverbs subsystem. A thread performing mmap/fork acquires locks in the order mmap_lock → disassociation_lock, while the thread executing uverbs_user_mmap_disassociate() acquires them in reverse order, leading to a potential deadlock. The issue was resolved by removing disassociation_lock and using the existing hw_destroy_rwsem instead.
- CVE-2026-98430Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the RDMA/efa management IRQ handler accesses both the admin completion queue and the async event queue. The driver registered the IRQ before constructing these queues and destroyed them before freeing the IRQ, so the handler's lifetime was not contained by the resources it accesses. The fix initializes the queues with interrupts masked, requests the IRQ, then switches to interrupt mode, and on removal resets the device and frees the IRQ before destroying the queues.
- CVE-2026-98429Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the RDMA/efa completion IRQ handler accesses the EQ state and DMA buffer. Its IRQ was registered before that state was initialized, while teardown released the buffer before free_irq() synchronized the handler. The fix initializes the EQ without arming it, registers the IRQ, then arms it, and reverses the resource order during teardown by freeing the IRQ before destroying the EQ.
- CVE-2026-98428Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the USB 6fire driver uses URBs embedded in different structs for PCM, MIDI and communication, which is a buggy implementation nowadays; since a URB is managed with a refcount, this may lead to a UAF when the URB is released asynchronously. The fix converts those embedded URBs to ones properly allocated via usb_alloc_urb(), changing each embedded struct urb to a pointer and updating callers; resources are released in common destructors called at both the init error path and disconnect.
- CVE-2026-98427Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the CoDel scheduler's dropping loop in codel_dequeue() could fail to advance with very small interval values, draining the entire backlog under the qdisc lock in a single call. An unprivileged user could trigger a soft lockup this way. The fix ensures the control-law step is at least 1 tick and caps the dropping loop at 256 drops per codel_dequeue() call.
- CVE-2026-98426Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the mwifiex wifi driver's mwifiex_pcie_request_irq() registers each MSI-X vector with a per-index dev_id (&card->msix_ctx[i]). On a request_irq() failure the cleanup loop "for (j = 0; j < i; j++)" frees msix_entries[j].vector but passes the failed index's &card->msix_ctx[i] as the dev_id. Since free_irq() matches on (irq, dev_id), it fails to find the action registered with &card->msix_ctx[j]: the already-requested IRQ j is not freed (leaked) and free_irq() warns about freeing a non-existent IRQ. The fix uses &card->msix_ctx[j].
- CVE-2026-98425Unknown
In the Linux kernel, ieee80211_request_ibss_scan() in mac80211 warns when the regulatory domain leaves no allowed channel to scan. This can happen because the regdomain can change while IBSS is operating, and IBSS can continue to operate briefly during the 60s grace period until it is shut down. The fix removes the warning in this case.
- CVE-2026-98424Unknown
In the Linux kernel, cfg80211_switch_netns() in cfg80211 moves all interfaces, then moves the wiphy itself by setting its network namespace and renaming it, which makes sysfs move it. The rename can fail (only on allocation failures), leaving things mixed up and hitting a warning. The fix undoes the move and lets the change fail, and if undo fails it WARNs.
- CVE-2026-98423Unknown
In the Linux kernel, mac80211_hwsim checks ->started for frames coming from wmediumd, but the radio can be stopped after the check and before frame delivery, causing mac80211 to hit WARN_ON(!local->started). The fix expands the mutex for this case and synchronizes against it when the radio is stopped, and drops an error print that complicated the error path.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: eventpoll: fix ep_remove struct eventpoll / struct file UAF ep_remove() (via ep_remove_file()) cleared file->f_ep under file->f_lock but then kept using @file inside the critical section (is_file_epoll(), hlist_del_rcu() through the head, spin_unlock). A concurrent __fput() taking the eventpoll_release() fastpath in that window observed the transient NULL, skipped eventpoll_release_file() and ran to f_op->release / file_free(). For the epoll-watches-epoll case, f_op->release is ep_eventpoll_release() -> ep_clear_and_put() -> ep_free(), which kfree()s the watched struct eventpoll. Its embedded ->refs hlist_head is exactly where epi->fllink.pprev points, so the subsequent hlist_del_rcu()'s "*pprev = next" scribbles into freed kmalloc-192 memory. In addition, struct file is SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU, so the slot backing @file could be recycled by alloc_empty_file() -- reinitializing f_lock and f_ep -- while ep_remove() is still nominally inside that lock. The upshot is an attacker-controllable kmem_cache_free() against the wrong slab cache. Pin @file via epi_fget() at the top of ep_remove() and gate the critical section on the pin succeeding. With the pin held @file cannot reach refcount zero, which holds __fput() off and transitively keeps the watched struct eventpoll alive across the hlist_del_rcu() and the f_lock use, closing both UAFs. If the pin fails @file has already reached refcount zero and its __fput() is in flight. Because we bailed before clearing f_ep, that path takes the eventpoll_release() slow path into eventpoll_release_file() and blocks on ep->mtx until the waiter side's ep_clear_and_put() drops it. The bailed epi's share of ep->refcount stays intact, so the trailing ep_refcount_dec_and_test() in ep_clear_and_put() cannot free the eventpoll out from under eventpoll_release_file(); the orphaned epi is then cleaned up there. A successful pin also proves we are not racing eventpoll_release_file() on this epi, so drop the now-redundant re-check of epi->dying under f_lock. The cheap lockless READ_ONCE(epi->dying) fast-path bailout stays.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

