CVE-2026-97903
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A race condition during process termination allows a local user to trigger a use-after-free condition when process identifier records are freed prematurely. By running concurrent system operations during process exit, an unprivileged attacker can induce memory corruption, leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
A moderate-severity use-after-free flaw was found in the Linux kernel process exit path. If another task still uses an exiting task's PID as its process group or session ID, release_task() can end up holding no reference to that struct pid, and a concurrently scheduled RCU-delayed put_pid() can free it while proc_flush_pid() still dereferences it, producing a slab use-after-free read in proc_invalidate_siblings_dcache(). An unprivileged local user can trigger this race by racing wait4() against setsid(), which can crash the kernel and cause a local denial of service; no controlled read, write, information disclosure, or privilege escalation has been demonstrated. Red Hat rates the impact of this flaw Moderate because exploitation requires winning a narrow timing race and the demonstrated consequence is denial of service (Red Hat CVSS 7.0, AV:L/AC:H), which differs from the upstream CVEORG rating of Important (CVSS 7.8). The vulnerable code is not present in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat In-Vehicle OS, and OpenShift Container Platform kernel builds tracked for this flaw, so those products are not affected; the single new Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 ELS record is out of support scope.
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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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.
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