CVE-2026-72073 json
mmc: vub300: fix use-after-free on probe failure
published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-11-06 2 d ago also EUVD-2026-59031
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 12%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
mmc: vub300: fix use-after-free on probe failure
The vub300 driver lifetime-manages its controller state using vub300->kref, with vub300_delete() freeing the mmc host when the last reference is dropped. The probe error path after the inactivity timer has been armed still bypasses that lifetime rule, however, and falls through to mmc_free_host() directly if mmc_add_host() fails.
The race window is between arming the inactivity timer and reaching the probe error unwind after mmc_add_host() fails:
probe thread timer/workqueue ------------ --------------- kref_init(&vub300->kref) ref = 1 kref_get(&vub300->kref) ref = 2, timer ref add_timer(inactivity_timer) fires after one second | | race window |<----------------------------------------------------> | mmc_add_host(mmc) inactivity timer fires vub300_queue_dead_work() kref_get() ref = 3 queue_work(deadwork) mmc_add_host() fails timer_delete_sync() mmc_free_host(mmc) frees vub300 deadwork runs use-after-free
The inactivity timeout is one second, so this would require mmc_add_host() to both fail and take more than one second to do so. This is unlikely to happen in practice, but the error path is still wrong.
timer_delete_sync() only waits for the timer callback itself. It does not flush deadwork that the callback may already have queued. As a result, queued deadwork can still hold a kref while the probe error path directly frees the backing mmc host, including the vub300 storage.
Fix this by using the same lifetime mechanism as disconnect. Clear vub300->interface so that the timer callback and any queued deadwork return early and drop their references, then drop the initial probe reference and return without falling through to err_free_host.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 4.10, 4.15, 4.20, 5.5, 5.11, 5.16, 6.1, 6.2, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.42, 7.1.5, 7.2
- linux Debian 13 6.12.115-2
- linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72073
- linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-202.212
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
- linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1119.126
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1120.130
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gke Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1115.121
- linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72073
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
- kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-azure SLE Module for Public Cloud 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP7, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP7, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 +2 more 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-obs-build SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1
- kernel-default-base SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP7 6.4.0-150700.53.90.1.150700.17.51.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:5091-1
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/face65f80c6946c631ca3490b4ebd2c016a4fd2c commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/6c66653dac9b25272d5fd4ed42a34aa5249e16df commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/5b82af744e06cd741938c3da54fdbe564a7e52d9 commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/618cf6b139503ec18ef93ffd663396aaf99b763a commit
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/a3b5f242997a3be7404112fd48784881560aea57 commit
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-2026-72073 updated cvss 4.7
kernel: mmc: vub300: fix use-after-free on probe failure
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelaffected: workaround, no fix available
-
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 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internalnot 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
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 2 d ago
Exploit prediction
0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 12% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/face65f80c6946c631ca3490b4ebd2c016a4fd2c
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/6c66653dac9b25272d5fd4ed42a34aa5249e16df
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/5b82af744e06cd741938c3da54fdbe564a7e52d9
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/618cf6b139503ec18ef93ffd663396aaf99b763a
- git.kernel.org /stable/c/a3b5f242997a3be7404112fd48784881560aea57
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-72073
- NVD CVE-2026-72073
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