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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-103569

| CVE-2026-98524 HIGH
2026-10-18 Linux GHSA-wq82-wxrv-wcj7
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Recon
    Local unprivileged account on host
  2. Delivery
    Create RDS socket over Infiniband
  3. Exploit
    Force FRMR DMA map/registration failure
  4. Install
    Stale scatterlist MR returned to pool
  5. C2
    Trigger MR teardown via setsockopt
  6. Execute
    Use-after-free kernel corruption
  7. Impact
    Escalate privileges

Vulnerability Assessment

Exploitation Conditions

Requires a local user able to open PF_RDS (AF_RDS) sockets on a kernel built with RDS RDMA support (CONFIG_RDS/CONFIG_RDS_RDMA) and the rds_rdma/ib path reachable, i.e., the RDS Infiniband transport in use. The specific trigger is a failure of DMA mapping or memory-region registration inside rds_ib_map_frmr(), after which rds_ib_free_frmr() returns the MR to the pool with a stale scatterlist; the use-after-free then fires during MR teardown (reachable via rds_free_mr from rds_setsockopt). Limiting factors: exploitation is local only (AV:L), needs an authenticated/unprivileged local account (PR:L), and depends on the non-default presence of the RDS-over-Infiniband subsystem - hosts without RDS or without the IB/RDMA transport are not exposed. Reliably driving the map/registration failure and grooming the freed object are additional practical hurdles not detailed in the sources.

Impact

This is a genuine local privilege-escalation primitive rather than a high-CVSS-but-low-risk issue, but its real-world urgency is tempered by narrow preconditions. The CVSS 3.1 vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N) is internally consistent with the description: exploitation is local, low-complexity, and requires an authenticated (PR:L) unprivileged local account, with no user interaction and high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact (C:H/I:H/A:H) reflecting a kernel use-after-free that can corrupt slab memory. EPSS is low at 0.22% (12th percentile), the CVE is NOT in CISA KEV, and no public exploit or PoC reference is present in the input - only upstream git.kernel.org patch commits and the NVD advisory. These signals are mutually consistent: a real, patchable kernel memory-safety bug with no evidence of weaponization. No SSVC decision fields (exploitation/automatable/technical-impact) were supplied; the vendor-priority 'this_week' label aligns with a serious-but-not-emergency local flaw. The key limiting factor not captured by the CVSS score is that the vulnerable path lives in the RDS-over-Infiniband (FRMR) code, which must be present and reachable for exploitation - a significant narrowing the raw 7.8 does not convey.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local, unprivileged user on a Linux host with the RDS Infiniband module loaded creates an RDS socket and registers a memory region, deliberately driving the DMA mapping or registration in rds_ib_map_frmr() to fail. The failed MR is returned to the pool with a stale scatterlist pointer, and when the MR is later torn down (e.g., via rds_free_mr through setsockopt) the dangling pointer is dereferenced, yielding a use-after-free the attacker can groom toward kernel memory corruption and privilege escalation. No public exploit code is identified at time of analysis; the flaw was found via KASAN.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 24, 2026

Local privilege escalation in the Linux kernel's RDS Infiniband transport is possible when rds_ib_map_frmr() leaves a stale scatterlist in a memory region returned to the MR pool after a DMA mapping or registration failure; a local user who can open PF_RDS sockets on a kernel built with CONFIG_RDS/CONFIG_RDS_RDMA and the rds_rdma/ib path can later trigger a use-after-free during MR teardown. Exposure is limited to systems using the non-default RDS-over-Infiniband subsystem, and EPSS is 0.22% (12th percentile) with the vuln.today decision label this_week; no public exploit identified at time of analysis, and a vendor patch is available. The assessed CVSS 3.1 vector is AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (7.8), consistent with a local privilege-escalation primitive requiring a local account rather than a remote attack.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: update to Linux 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9, or 7.3-rc5, applying the corresponding git.kernel.org stable commit (for example https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1be3211e6ac77adbb1eac01314d989d243b32c59). If those kernels cannot be deployed, remove exposure by disabling or blacklisting the rds_rdma module and not building with CONFIG_RDS_RDMA, because systems without RDS-over-Infiniband do not reach the vulnerable MR-pool teardown path; the trade-off is loss of RDS RDMA functionality. Also restrict local accounts that can open PF_RDS sockets to trusted users, since the attack requires local access to AF_RDS.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <c42d316163f89cd23de2f3e24558177a8c29bad8
Linux patch: 5.15.222
Linux patch: 6.1.189
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <58eb1b3325edac42dc6df72c80962bd53a3c8ca7
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <49ba5ed0129906e0362c2e4b5e21c89b2a41e115
Linux patch: 6.6.158
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <1be3211e6ac77adbb1eac01314d989d243b32c59
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <4468df5bcdef959fd96494e9968f323561a45f4c
Linux patch: 7.3-rc5
Linux 4.6
Linux patch: 6.12.112
Linux patch: 5.10.271
Linux patch: 6.18.55
Linux patch: 7.2.9
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <b36d32f30c3f1e58e3a5ae79d0f52836a316b36e
Linux patch: 0
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <8dca3c81344532a7f05edb3d12f31f3009410a90
Linux 1659185fb4d0025835eb2058a141f0746c5cab00 <e2ee0616260080376123997488b5cf8a3870b8d9

Affected Packages

euvd linux no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

RDS (Reliable Datagram Sockets) is a Linux kernel transport whose RDMA/InfiniBand path uses memory regions (MRs/FRMRs) and scatter-gather lists for DMA. In rds_ib_map_frmr(), the caller's scatterlist was stored in the MR before DMA mapping and registration could fail; when mapping failed, __rds_rdma_map() unpinned the pages and freed the scatterlist, but rds_ib_free_frmr() could still return the MR to the pool with the stale sg pointer set. The dangling scatterlist is later read during teardown in __rds_ib_teardown_mr (call trace: rds_ib_unreg_frmr, rds_ib_flush_mr_pool, rds_ib_flush_mrs, rds_free_mr, rds_setsockopt), producing a slab-use-after-free. The fix stores the scatterlist in the MR only after DMA mapping succeeds, returns directly with MR fields clear if DMA mapping fails so the caller retains ownership of the scatterlist and pinned pages, and unmaps/clears the MR fields if a later registration step fails. CPE data identifies linux:linux; no CWE was supplied, but the root cause is memory-region lifecycle mismanagement leading to a stale pointer and use-after-free. The trigger requires a local user able to open PF_RDS (AF_RDS) sockets on a kernel built with CONFIG_RDS/CONFIG_RDS_RDMA and the rds_rdma/ib path reachable, and the sources do not detail how to reliably force the mapping/registration failure or groom the freed object; hosts without RDS or without the IB/RDMA transport are not exposed.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY 7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 7.8 HIGH

Local unprivileged user can open RDS sockets (AV:L, PR:L, AC:L, UI:N); kernel use-after-free enables memory corruption and privilege escalation, giving full C:H/I:H/A:H within an unchanged scope.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
CVSS changed
Oct 24, 2026 - 14:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Oct 18, 2026 - 16:02 EUVD
CVE Published
Oct 18, 2026 - 15:17 cve.org
HIGH 7.8
CVE Published
Oct 18, 2026 - 15:17 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

rds: ib: Clear the sg list when mapping an MR fails

rds_ib_map_frmr() stores the caller's scatterlist in the MR before DMA mapping and registration can fail. On failure, __rds_rdma_map() unpins the pages and frees the scatterlist, but rds_ib_free_frmr() can still return the MR to the pool with the stale pointer set.

This leaves the pool with a dangling scatterlist and can lead to local privilege escalation. KASAN detects the resulting use-after-free when the MR is later torn down:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __rds_ib_teardown_mr Read of size 8

Call Trace: __rds_ib_teardown_mr rds_ib_unreg_frmr rds_ib_flush_mr_pool rds_ib_flush_mrs rds_free_mr rds_setsockopt

Store the scatterlist in the MR only after DMA mapping succeeds. If DMA mapping fails, return directly while the MR fields remain clear; the caller keeps ownership of the scatterlist and its pinned pages. If a later registration step fails, unmap the scatterlist and clear the MR fields before returning.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

CVE-2026-98524 is a high-severity local privilege escalation flaw in the Linux kernel's RDS Infiniband transport, affecting only systems that have the non-default RDS-over-Infiniband subsystem enabled. An authenticated local user could exploit this to gain elevated privileges, but the limited exposure and low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.2%) mean the risk is concentrated in specific configurations. Leadership should care because any local account on an affected system could potentially become root, undermining host security boundaries.

Business Impact: Medium
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 88% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
Linux kernel runs almost everywhere; but vulnerable RDS/Infiniband path is rarely enabled
Data Quality
4 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Defer
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
Medium

Priority Score

39
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +39
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

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