CVE-2026-97996
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's virtio subsystem. A local user can trigger a use-after-free condition when unbinding or removing certain virtual I/O (virtio) devices. This issue occurs because the device memory is freed before its debug filesystem entries are removed, resulting in an invalid read operation. Exploitation of this flaw could allow a local attacker to crash the system, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS), or potentially execute arbitrary code.
Statement
A moderate-impact use-after-free flaw was found in the Linux kernel's virtio subsystem, affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2. When a virtio device using one of the virtio_mmio, virtio_vdpa, virtio_uml, mlxbf-tmfifo, or virtio_ccw transports is unbound or removed, the transport's release callback can free the memory holding the embedded struct virtio_device before its debugfs entries are removed, so unregister_virtio_device() then reads dev->debugfs_dir from the freed object. A local attacker with the privileges needed to unbind or remove virtio devices (for example via sysfs) could use this flaw to crash the kernel, resulting in a denial of service, or potentially execute arbitrary code; Red Hat rated the flaw Moderate severity. The fix for the affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2 streams is currently deferred to a future update. The residual risk is considered limited because triggering the flaw requires local privileged access and one of the affected virtio transports, and the demonstrated impact is a denial of service. virtio_pci devices are not affected because that transport holds an extra device reference during removal. Earlier Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions (6, 7, 8, and 9) and the OpenShift Container Platform RHEL CoreOS images are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those products.
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 | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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