CVE-2026-72096 dm-verity: make error counter atomic

Not scored Published 15 Aug 2026 Updated 23 Aug 2026

A race condition in the Linux kernel dm-verity error counter may skip audit logs, potentially bypassing security monitoring for corrupted data.

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-2026-72096?

CVE-2026-72096 is a vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 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:

dm-verity: make error counter atomic

The error counter "v->corrupted_errs" was not atomic, thus it could be subject to race conditions. The call to dm_audit_log_target("max-corrupted-errors") may be skipped due to the races.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72096?

How do I fix CVE-2026-72096?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2026-72096 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72096 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72096, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72096, GHSA-8596-mc33-986q, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72096.