CVE-2026-72069 locking/rt: Fix the incorrect RCU protection in rt_spin_unlock()
A use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's RT spinlock implementation allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72069?
CVE-2026-72069 is a critical use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
locking/rt: Fix the incorrect RCU protection in rt_spin_unlock()
rt_spin_unlock() releases the RCU protection before unlocking the lock. That opens the door for the following UAF scenario:
T1 T2 spin_lock(&p->lock); rcu_read_lock(); invalidate(p); p = rcu_dereference(ptr); rcu_assign_pointer(ptr, NULL); if (!p) return; spin_unlock(&p->lock); spin_lock(&p->lock) lock(&lock->lock); rcu_read_lock(); kfree_rcu(p); rcu_read_unlock(); .... spin_unlock(&p->lock) rcu_read_unlock(); // Ends grace period rcu_do_batch() kfree(p); UAF -> rt_mutex_cmpxchg_release(&lock->lock...)
Regular spinlocks keep preemption disabled accross the unlock operation, which provides full RCU protection, but the RT substitution fails to resemble that. Same applies for the rwlock substitution.
Move the rcu_read_unlock() invocation past the unlock operations to match the non-RT semantics. This makes it asymmetric vs. rt_xxx_lock(), but that's harmless as the caller needs to hold RCU read lock across the lock operation. The migrate_enable() call stays before the unlock operation because there is no per CPU operation in the unlock path which would require migration to be kept disabled.
Weakness: CWE-416
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72069?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72069?
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-2026-72069 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72069 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72069, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72069, GHSA-mgq9-4f63-hxm9, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72069.