CVE-2026-43249 9p/xen: protect xen_9pfs_front_free against concurrent calls
A race condition in the Linux kernel's 9p/xen driver allows a double-free, leading to a general protection fault and system crash.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-43249?
CVE-2026-43249 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
9p/xen: protect xen_9pfs_front_free against concurrent calls
The xenwatch thread can race with other back-end change notifications and call xen_9pfs_front_free() twice, hitting the observed general protection fault due to a double-free. Guard the teardown path so only one caller can release the front-end state at a time, preventing the crash.
This is a fix for the following double-free:
[ 27.052347] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0x6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b: 0000 [#1] SMP DEBUG_PAGEALLOC NOPTI [ 27.052357] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 32 Comm: xenwatch Not tainted 6.18.0-02087-g51ab33fc0a8b-dirty #60 PREEMPT(none) [ 27.052363] RIP: e030:xen_9pfs_front_free+0x1d/0x150 [ 27.052368] Code: 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 41 55 41 54 55 48 89 fd 48 c7 c7 48 d0 92 85 53 e8 cb cb 05 00 48 8b 45 08 48 8b 55 00 <48> 3b 28 0f 85 f9 28 35 fe 48 3b 6a 08 0f 85 ef 28 35 fe 48 89 42 [ 27.052377] RSP: e02b:ffffc9004016fdd0 EFLAGS: 00010246 [ 27.052381] RAX: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b RBX: ffff88800d66e400 RCX: 0000000000000000 [ 27.052385] RDX: 6b6b6b6b6b6b6b6b RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000000 [ 27.052389] RBP: ffff88800a887040 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 [ 27.052393] R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: ffff888009e46b68 [ 27.052397] R13: 0000000000000200 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff88800a887040 [ 27.052404] FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff88808ca57000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 [ 27.052408] CS: e030 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 [ 27.052412] CR2: 00007f9714004360 CR3: 0000000004834000 CR4: 0000000000050660 [ 27.052418] Call Trace: [ 27.052420] <TASK> [ 27.052422] xen_9pfs_front_changed+0x5d5/0x720 [ 27.052426] ? xenbus_otherend_changed+0x72/0x140 [ 27.052430] ? __pfx_xenwatch_thread+0x10/0x10 [ 27.052434] xenwatch_thread+0x94/0x1c0 [ 27.052438] ? __pfx_autoremove_wake_function+0x10/0x10 [ 27.052442] kthread+0xf8/0x240 [ 27.052445] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 27.052449] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 27.052452] ret_from_fork+0x16b/0x1a0 [ 27.052456] ? __pfx_kthread+0x10/0x10 [ 27.052459] ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 [ 27.052463] </TASK> [ 27.052465] Modules linked in: [ 27.052471] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Weakness: CWE-415
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43249?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-43249?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.
Is CVE-2026-43249 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43249 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-86390, BELL-CVE-2026-43249, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-43249, GHSA-387w-9mx8-66cc, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2026-43249, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2026-43249 and 3 more.