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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2026-72071 json

tracing/user_events: Fix use-after-free in user_event_mm_dup()

published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-08-17 2 mo ago also EUVD-2026-59029

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracing/user_events: Fix use-after-free in user_event_mm_dup()

user_event_mm_dup() walks the parent mm's enabler list locklessly under rcu_read_lock() during fork() (from copy_process()); it does not take event_mutex:

rcu_read_lock(); list_for_each_entry_rcu(enabler, &old_mm->enablers, mm_enablers_link) enabler->event = user_event_get(orig->event);

user_event_enabler_destroy() removes an enabler from that list with list_del_rcu() and then, without waiting for a grace period, drops the enabler's user_event reference with user_event_put() and frees the enabler with kfree(). A reader that loaded the enabler before the list_del_rcu() can still be walking it, which leads to two use-after-frees:

- kfree(enabler) frees the enabler while that reader dereferences enabler->event.

- user_event_put() may drop the last reference to the user_event, which is then freed (via delayed_destroy_user_event() on a work queue), while the same reader does user_event_get(orig->event) on it.

Both are reachable by an unprivileged task that can open user_events_data: one multithreaded process that registers an enabler and then concurrently unregisters it and calls fork() triggers the race. KASAN reports a slab-use-after-free in user_event_mm_dup() during clone(), with a "refcount_t: addition on 0" warning when the user_event is freed.

The enabler use-after-free was found first; the user_event one was reported by XIAO WU, and the earlier enabler-only fix did not address it.

Defer both the user_event_put() and the kfree(enabler) to a work item queued with queue_rcu_work(), so they run only after an RCU grace period, once all readers walking the enabler list have finished. The put must run in process context because user_event_put() takes event_mutex on the last reference, so a work queue is used rather than call_rcu(). The now-unlocked put lets the locked argument of user_event_enabler_destroy() be removed; all callers are updated.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 6.6.148, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
  • linux Debian 13 6.12.100-1
  • linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72071

  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-147.147
  • linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1067.70
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1071.79
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1066.74
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72071

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-72071 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: tracing/user_events: Fix use-after-free in user_event_mm_dup()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +83 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernel
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.