Severity by source
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Race condition timing dependency between concurrent unlinkat() and RCU pathwalk warrants AC:H over NVD's AC:L; local low-privileged bpffs access required (AV:L/PR:L); full kernel memory impact if race is won.
Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).
CVSS VectorVendor: Linux
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionCVE.org
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: fix UAF by restoring RCU-delayed inode freeing in bpffs
commit 4f375ade6aa9 ("bpf: Avoid RCU context warning when unpinning htab with internal structs") moved inode cleanup from ->free_inode() into ->destroy_inode() to avoid sleeping in RCU context when calling bpf_any_put(). However this removed the RCU delay on freeing the inode itself and the cached symlink body (i_link), both of which can be accessed by RCU pathwalk (pick_link, may_lookup etc.).
This causes a use-after-free when a concurrent unlinkat() drops the last inode reference and destroy_inode() frees the inode immediately, while another task is still walking the path in RCU mode and reads inode->i_opflags (offset +2) inside current_time() -> is_mgtime().
KASAN reports: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in is_mgtime include/linux/fs.h:2313 Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880407e4282 (offset +2 = i_opflags)
The rules (per Al Viro): ->destroy_inode() called immediately, can sleep, use for blocking cleanup e.g. bpf_any_put() ->free_inode() called after RCU grace period, use for freeing inode and anything RCU-accessible e.g. i_link
Fix: split the two concerns properly:
- keep bpf_any_put() in bpf_destroy_inode() since it is blocking
and needs to run promptly
- introduce bpf_free_inode() to handle kfree(i_link) and
free_inode_nonrcu() with proper RCU delay, preventing the UAF
AnalysisAI
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel BPF filesystem (bpffs) inode lifecycle exposes freed kernel memory during concurrent path traversal, enabling local attackers with low privileges to crash the kernel or potentially escalate privileges. The flaw was introduced by commit 4f375ade6aa9, which incorrectly removed the RCU grace-period delay protecting inodes and cached symlink bodies accessible via concurrent RCU pathwalk operations (pick_link, may_lookup). …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Exploitation requires local shell access with privileges sufficient to interact with the BPF filesystem - specifically the ability to pin BPF objects (programs or maps) into bpffs. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | The NVD CVSS 3.1 score of 7.8 High (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects the full CIA impact achievable via a local kernel UAF. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | A local attacker with a low-privileged shell on a system running eBPF workloads (e.g., a Kubernetes node with Cilium, or a host with pinned BPF maps) pins a BPF object in bpffs, then spawns two concurrent threads: one calling unlinkat() to drop the last inode reference, and another performing repeated path traversals through the same inode. If the timing window is won, destroy_inode() frees the inode while the RCU pathwalk reads inode->i_opflags, producing a slab-use-after-free that at minimum causes a kernel panic and at most, with heap shaping, enables privilege escalation. … |
| Remediation | The primary fix is to upgrade to a patched kernel version for your stable series: 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, or 7.1.5. … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours, inventory Linux systems running affected kernel versions and verify BPF filesystem status. …
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-59510
GHSA-99p6-gfcm-83g8