CVE-2026-72071
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's tracing/user_events component. An unprivileged local attacker can exploit a race condition during process forking within the user_event_mm_dup() function. This use-after-free vulnerability occurs when an enabler is prematurely freed while still being accessed. Successful exploitation can lead to system instability or a denial of service (DoS) due to memory corruption.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation requires local system access to interact with user-space event tracing interfaces and depends on a narrow race window during process creation, primarily causing denial of service or kernel crashes. Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases are not affected by this flaw as the vulnerable code introduced in upstream kernels is not present in supported enterprise kernels.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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