CVE-2026-72499 RDMA/bnxt_re: Free CQ toggle page after firmware teardown
A use-after-free in the Linux kernel RDMA driver allows attackers to cause denial of service or execute code via race conditions during CQ teardown.
- 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-2026-72499?
CVE-2026-72499 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:
RDMA/bnxt_re: Free CQ toggle page after firmware teardown
Free the toggle page only after firmware teardown completes so that an NQ interrupt arriving during bnxt_qplib_destroy_cq() won't write the toggle value to an already-freed page. Move free_page() after bnxt_qplib_destroy_cq.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72499?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72499?
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-2026-72499 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72499 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-72499, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72499, GHSA-2899-vqg2-g66r, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72499.