Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98861

 

Use-after-free in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98861

Published: October 22, 2026


Vulnerability identifier: #VU157230
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 5.6 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98861
CWE-ID: CWE-416
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability: No public exploit available

Vulnerability details

The vulnerability allows a local privileged user to cause a denial of service through a potential kernel crash.

The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free in the Linux kernel fprobe subsystem when handlers execute while RCU is not watching and their fprobe is freed after unregistration without waiting for those handlers to complete. A local privileged user can trigger overlapping handler execution and fprobe unregistration under these conditions to access freed kernel memory and potentially crash the kernel.


Affected software

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-realtime (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure (Ubuntu package)
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-gke (Ubuntu package)
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

How to mitigate CVE-2026-98861

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-43.43
linux-realtime (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-43.43.1
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.18
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.19
linux-azure (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1020.21
linux-raspi (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1023.23
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18
linux-oracle-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18~24.04.1
linux-gcp-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.19~24.04.1
linux-azure-fde-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1019.19~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1018.18
linux-gke (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1010.11
linux-azure-fde (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1019.19
linux-aws-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.18~24.04.1

External References

Related Security Bulletins