CVE-2026-72390 net/sched: sch_teql: Introduce slaves_lock to avoid race condition and UAF
A race condition in the Linux kernel's teql scheduler allows a use-after-free, potentially enabling local attackers to execute code or escalate privileges.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72390?
CVE-2026-72390 is a high-severity use after free 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:
net/sched: sch_teql: Introduce slaves_lock to avoid race condition and UAF
The teql master->slaves singly linked list is not protected against multiple writes. It can be mod'ed concurently from teql_master_xmit(), teql_dequeue(), teql_init() and teql_destroy() without holding any list lock or RCU protection.
[email protected] has demonstrated that the qdisc is freed after an RCU grace period, but teql_master_xmit() running on another CPU can still hold a stale pointer into the list, resulting in a slab-use-after-free:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in teql_master_xmit+0xf0f/0x16b0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888013fb0440 by task poc/332 Freed 512-byte region [ffff888013fb0400, ffff888013fb0600) (kmalloc-512)
The fix? Add a per-master slaves_lock spinlock that serializes all mutations of master->slaves and the NEXT_SLAVE() links in teql_destroy() and teql_qdisc_init(). teql_master_xmit() also takes the same slaves_lock around those updates. Annotate master->slaves and the per-slave ->next pointer with __rcu and use the appropriate RCU accessors everywhere they are touched: rcu_assign_pointer() on the writer side (under slaves_lock), rcu_dereference_protected() for the writer-side loads (also under slaves_lock), rcu_dereference_bh() for the loads in teql_master_xmit() and rtnl_dereference() for the loads in teql_master_open()/teql_master_mtu(), which run under RTNL. Pair this with rcu_read_lock_bh()/rcu_read_unlock_bh() around the list traversal in teql_master_xmit(), so that readers either observe a fully linked list or are deferred until the in-flight mutation completes. The two early-return paths in teql_master_xmit() are updated to release the RCU-bh read-side critical section before returning, since leaving it held would disable BH on that CPU for good.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72390?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72390?
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-2026-72390 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72390 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72390, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72390, GHSA-6rv6-hxhf-8gw6, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72390.