CVE-2026-74601
HighCVSS 7.8Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk3th percentile - higher than 3% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's ring-buffer mechanism, where ring_buffer_swap_cpu() can swap per-CPU buffers during an ongoing write operation. The committing counter may temporarily drop to zero, allowing an unsafe buffer swap and leading to inconsistent state and RB_WARN_ON. The fix replaces the counter check with current_context checks, which are set at the start of the operation and remain valid throughout.
Risk Assessment
The vulnerability can lead to data inconsistency in ring buffers, potentially causing system panic or unpredictable behavior, especially in tracing environments. A local attacker could potentially exploit this to destabilize the system.
Recommendation
Apply the official patch from the Linux kernel vendor immediately and update the system to a patched version. Monitor distribution security advisories for available updates.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-99215Unknown
In the Linux kernel power supply subsystem, a use-after-free vulnerability exists. If a power supply is unregistered while its external_power_changed() callback is still running, the driver may free data that the callback is still accessing, leading to a kernel crash (NULL pointer dereference).
- CVE-2026-99210Unknown
In the Linux kernel accel/rocket driver, rocket_probe() stores the return value of rocket_device_init() in the file-scoped rdev pointer before checking whether it is an error pointer. On failure rdev remains an ERR_PTR, and a later probe can skip initialization and dereference the error pointer when reading rdev->num_cores.
- CVE-2026-99209Unknown
In the Linux kernel drm/xe driver, xe_evict_flags() reads tbo->resource->mem_type, but a BO can reach eviction with no ttm.resource, e.g. an imported dma-buf whose resource was freed during teardown. This causes a NULL pointer dereference and a kernel fault.
- CVE-2026-99208Unknown
In the Linux kernel drm/xe/oa driver, ttm_bo_type_kernel BOs are not guaranteed to be zeroed on allocation and may contain data from previously freed pages. Since the OA buffer is mmap'able by userspace, this can expose stale kernel memory contents.
- CVE-2026-99207Unknown
In the Linux kernel's scsi: target subsystem, target_do_delayed_work() acquired delayed_cmd_lock with a plain spin_lock() without disabling interrupts, while all other acquisition sites use spin_lock_irqsave(). Since commands can now complete in interrupt context (complete_type=1 with direct_compl_supp), this can cause a deadlock when a completion arrives on the same CPU where the work item holds the lock.
- CVE-2026-99205Unknown
In the Linux kernel, a race exists in sched_change_end() with __sched_setscheduler() for queued but non-running tasks. When a task's scheduling class changes (e.g., from SCHED_OTHER to SCHED_RR), rq->next_class is not updated and the need-resched indicator is not set, causing the CPU to idle despite a runnable task being present.
- CVE-2026-99200Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the hisi_femac network driver (net: hisilicon) assigns netdev_ops only after connecting the PHY. With CONFIG_NET_SHAPER enabled, phy_attach_direct() reads uninitialized netdev_ops, causing a kernel panic from a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2026-99199Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the hip04_eth network driver (net: hisilicon) calls of_phy_connect() before ndev->netdev_ops is assigned. With CONFIG_NET_SHAPER enabled, phy_attach_direct() reads uninitialized netdev_ops, causing a kernel panic from a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2026-99198Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the owl_emac network driver (net: ethernet: actions) calls owl_emac_phy_init(), which connects the PHY, before netdev->netdev_ops is assigned. With CONFIG_NET_SHAPER enabled, phy_attach_direct() reads uninitialized netdev_ops, causing a kernel panic from a NULL pointer dereference.
- CVE-2026-99197Unknown
In the Linux kernel, the mv643xx_eth network driver connects the PHY before dev->netdev_ops is assigned. With CONFIG_NET_SHAPER enabled, phy_attach_direct() reads uninitialized netdev_ops, causing a kernel panic from a NULL pointer dereference.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ring-buffer: Use current_context for safe per-CPU buffer swap The ring_buffer_swap_cpu() function currently checks the per-CPU committing counter to determine if a buffer is actively being written to before performing the swap. However, there exists a race window where this check can be bypassed: ring_buffer_lock_reserve cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu]; // cpu_buffer_a rb_reserve_next_event rb_start_commit // inc committing if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(cpu_buffer->buffer) != buffer)) {...} __rb_reserve_next rb_move_tail rb_end_commit(cpu_buffer); // dec committing => 0 /* interrupt hits here, successfully swaps! */ local_inc(&cpu_buffer->committing); ring_buffer_unlock_commit cpu_buffer = buffer->buffers[cpu]; // cpu_buffer_b rb_commit rb_end_commit RB_WARN_ON(cpu_buffer, !local_read(&cpu_buffer->committing)) // triggers warning The committing counter can temporarily drop to 0 during a single write operation (within rb_move_tail), creating a window where swap can succeed even though the write is still in progress. This leads to inconsistent buffer state and triggers the RB_WARN_ON in rb_commit(). Replace the committing counter check with current_context checks, which are set at the entry of ring_buffer_lock_reserve() and remain valid throughout the entire write operation, providing a reliable indicator of buffer busy state during swap.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS