Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-74548
Published: August 16, 2026
Vulnerability identifier: #VU143226
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-74548
CWE-ID: CWE-416
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a denial of service.
The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free in the forcedeth driver txrx_stats handling in nv_remove() when unregistering a network device. A local user can trigger device removal while code paths such as ndo_get_stats64, the NAPI/xmit data path, or nv_close()/drain still access freed memory to cause a denial of service.
The issue occurs because accesses to the per-CPU statistics structure may continue until network device unregistration completes.
Affected software
Linux kernel
Debian Linux
linux (Debian package)
Debian Linux
linux (Debian package)
How to mitigate CVE-2026-74548
Install security update from vendor's repository.
Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Debian package) - update to 6.12.105-1
linux (Debian package) - update to 6.12.105-1
External References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/201e05aa531eba0dfe2ee05b4e178f6ffa12c8b1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22666ba1420164753d7b0f5a841986b25ace5435
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ae20a8a4de06a289d40b0a0633d8d573f1fcb049
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9d24a205fd508b9999fcab6aca4c590490a12cf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cf2dcde2284562ff87830ca0b7fa2b06e95aef1e