# 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. - **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`) - **Exploited in the wild:** Not known - **Login needed:** Not needed - **Attackable:** Local or same network only - **Victim action needed:** Not needed - **Fix available:** Yes - **Published:** 6 May 2026 - **Updated:** 21 Oct 2026 - **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, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2026-43249, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2404-CVE-2026-43249, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-43249 ## 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] [ 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] [ 27.052465] Modules linked in: [ 27.052471] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Weakness: CWE-415 (Double Free) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-43249? It affects 1 product. Products: Linux kernel. ## How do I fix CVE-2026-43249? Apply the vendor's patch. ## 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 - [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild) - [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild) ## Fix prompt for AI coding agents ```text Check this codebase for CVE-2026-43249 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: 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. Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-43249 in the wild and no public exploit code. Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page. Task: 1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies. 2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it. 3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead. 4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why. 5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing. Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43249/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43249/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-43249 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-43249 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-43249 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-43249/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.