CVE-2026-74512
NVD analysis in progress
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: audit: fix potential use-after-free in audit_del_rule() `audit_del_rule()` destroys `e->rule.exe` via `audit_remove_mark_rule()` before unlinking the rule from RCU-visible filter lists and waiting for a grace period. Concurrent readers in `audit_filter()` and `audit_filter_rules()` still dereference `e->rule.exe`, while the fsnotify mark can be freed on an independent lifetime path. This creates a use-after-free window during rule deletion. Fix this by unlinking the rule from the RCU-visible lists and invoking `synchronize_rcu()` before calling `audit_remove_mark_rule()` (and other rule removal helpers). This ensures that all existing RCU readers have exited the critical section before any underlying resources are destroyed.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable with local access to the machine, with an ordinary user account and with no action from the victim.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score stays low: nothing points to imminent exploitation, which is no reason to leave it unpatched.
What to doFold into the next patch cycle.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.