# CVE-2026-74674: mm: fix incorrect flush address in direct page table reclaim

> Incorrect TLB flush address during page table reclaim can lead to use-after-free, potentially allowing local attackers to execute code or escalate privileges.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 25 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74674, GHSA-h8c5-5mw2-4jr4, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74674

## What is CVE-2026-74674?

CVE-2026-74674 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 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:

mm: fix incorrect flush address in direct page table reclaim

When zap_pte_range reclaims a page table, it does:

    pte_free_tlb(tlb, pmd_pgtable(pmdval), addr);

and this is unconditionally wrong: if this code executes, addr *always*
points one past the end of the range covered by the table.  The addr
parameter is used to flush the TLB (really the paging-structure-cache)
to drop references to the to-be-freed table, and any architecture that
cares about the parameter will flush the wrong address.  (But they'll
still free the correct page).

I think it's worth contemplating why the kernel works at all.

If we hit the offending line of code, we will first clear the PMD entry
(line 1954, zap_empty_pte_table), then we will issue pending flushes if
force_flush is set (tlb_flush_mmu_tlbonly(tlb)), then we will skip the
retry on line 1979 (phew!), and then we will do the offending
pte_free_tlb call.  *Or* we will clear the PMD entry immediately before
pte_free_tlb (line 1983, zap_pte_table_if_empty).

If we have any pending flushes (i.e. we actually zapped any last-level
entries) at the time we clear the PMD entry, then the flush really ought
to flush all references to the table (Linus certainly seems to think it
will on all architectures [0]).

The condition under which we have no accumulated flushes at the time of
the clear is very complex (the whole zap_pte_range function has absurdly
complex control flow).  If we do hit the bad case, then we will end up
clearing the PMD entry after the last time the range is flushed, and any
CPU is free to cache a reference to the (empty) page table.  If this
happens due to an ordinary read or write, it would segfault, so it would
be rare.  But the cache could be speculatively filled as well.  Then
we'll flush the wrong address and then free and possibly reuse the
table.

On x86, even flushing the wrong address works on non-KPTI Intel systems
because INVLPG flushes *all* paging-structure-caches, not just the ones
for the target address.  But INVPCID does not, and flush_tlb_one_user
will use INVPCID if it's available.  And then we're toast.  AMD systems
are more susceptible: we set the EFER.TCE bit, which makes even INVLPG
only flush the target address.

I think this might fix an issue in ripgrep reported here:
https://github.com/BurntSushi/ripgrep/issues/3494

[0] https://lore.kernel.org/all/CA+55aFzBggoXtNXQeng5d_mRoDnaMBE5Y+URs+PHR67nUpMtaw@mail.gmail.com/T/#u

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74674?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-74674?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-74674 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74674 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-74674 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-74674 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 22 Aug 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74674 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74674/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74674/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-74674
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74674
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-74674

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74674/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.