CVE-2026-74606

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's eventfs component. The eventfs_remove_rec() function contains a use-after-free vulnerability where it attempts to access memory after it has been deallocated. This can occur during recursive removal of child entries. A local attacker could exploit this flaw to cause memory corruption, potentially leading to a denial of service or arbitrary code execution.

Statement

A MODERATE severity use-after-free flaw was found in the Linux kernel's eventfs implementation, which affects the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2 kernels. When eventfs_remove_rec() recursively removes child entries, the list_for_each_entry() iterator advances by reading list.next from the child that was just removed. If free_ei() drops the final reference, release_ei() reuses the list/rcu union to queue an SRCU callback, so the child may already be freed when the iterator reads the next pointer. A local attacker able to trigger eventfs removal, for example via tracefs event teardown, could exploit this race to cause memory corruption; the most realistic consequence is a kernel crash resulting in denial of service. Red Hat rates this flaw MODERATE (CVSS 5.5, availability impact only) rather than the upstream CVE.org severity of IMPORTANT (7.8) because exploitation requires local access, privileges to interact with the tracing subsystem, and winning a narrow race condition. Older Red Hat Enterprise Linux streams (RHEL 6, 7, 8, and 9) do not contain the vulnerable code and are therefore not affected. For the affected RHEL 10 and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2 streams the fix is currently deferred: given the local, privilege-gated, and race-dependent nature of the trigger, an out-of-cycle update was not warranted, and the residual risk is a local denial of service through a kernel crash if a user with tracefs access can trigger eventfs teardown.

Mitigation

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.

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 HatNVDcve.org
Base Score5.5N/A7.8
Attack VectorLocalN/ALocal
Attack ComplexityLowN/ALow
Privileges RequiredLowN/ALow
User InteractionNoneN/ANone
ScopeUnchangedN/AUnchanged
ConfidentialityNoneN/AHigh
Integrity ImpactNoneN/AHigh
Availability ImpactHighN/AHigh

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Confidentiality

Technical Impact: Read Memory

If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.

Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability

Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands

If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

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