CVE-2026-74363 bpf: fix UAF by restoring RCU-delayed inode freeing in bpffs
A use-after-free in the Linux kernel's bpffs allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges via concurrent path walking and unlinking.
- 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-2026-74363?
CVE-2026-74363 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:
bpf: fix UAF by restoring RCU-delayed inode freeing in bpffs
commit 4f375ade6aa9 ("bpf: Avoid RCU context warning when unpinning htab with internal structs") moved inode cleanup from ->free_inode() into ->destroy_inode() to avoid sleeping in RCU context when calling bpf_any_put(). However this removed the RCU delay on freeing the inode itself and the cached symlink body (i_link), both of which can be accessed by RCU pathwalk (pick_link, may_lookup etc.).
This causes a use-after-free when a concurrent unlinkat() drops the last inode reference and destroy_inode() frees the inode immediately, while another task is still walking the path in RCU mode and reads inode->i_opflags (offset +2) inside current_time() -> is_mgtime().
KASAN reports: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in is_mgtime include/linux/fs.h:2313 Read of size 2 at addr ffff8880407e4282 (offset +2 = i_opflags)
The rules (per Al Viro): ->destroy_inode() called immediately, can sleep, use for blocking cleanup e.g. bpf_any_put() ->free_inode() called after RCU grace period, use for freeing inode and anything RCU-accessible e.g. i_link
Fix: split the two concerns properly: - keep bpf_any_put() in bpf_destroy_inode() since it is blocking and needs to run promptly - introduce bpf_free_inode() to handle kfree(i_link) and free_inode_nonrcu() with proper RCU delay, preventing the UAF
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74363?
How do I fix CVE-2026-74363?
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-2026-74363 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74363 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-74363, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74363, GHSA-99p6-gfcm-83g8, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74363.