Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72120

 

Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-72120

Published: August 16, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU143476
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-2026-72120
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 net/can/bcm.c broadcast manager operation list handling when traversing and releasing bcm_op structures under RCU protection. A local user can trigger crafted CAN BCM socket operations to cause a denial of service.

The issue involves inconsistent RCU list operations for tx_ops and rx_ops during setup, proc traversal, and socket release.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-72120

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux-nvidia (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 5.15.0-1112.113, 5.15.0.1112.112
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4, 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1
linux-azure-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1, 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins