CVE-2026-98180 drm/msm: RCU-free the scheduler-containing ring and VM objects
A use-after-free in the Linux kernel DRM MSM driver allows unprivileged users to trigger a slab-use-after-free read via sync file operations.
- 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-2026-98180?
CVE-2026-98180 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux, published on 6 Oct 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:
drm/msm: RCU-free the scheduler-containing ring and VM objects
Both struct msm_ringbuffer and struct msm_gem_vm embed a struct drm_gpu_scheduler. msm_ringbuffer_destroy() and the VM free callback msm_gem_vm_free() call drm_sched_fini() on the embedded scheduler and then free the containing object with plain kfree().
drm_sched_fence_get_timeline_name() returns fence->sched->name, and the scheduler fence keeps a .release callback so it is not ops-detached on signalling. A finished fence exported to userspace (the submit out-fence, or a VM_BIND fence, via sync_file / drm_syncobj) keeps pointing at the embedded scheduler after the ring/VM is freed, so a later get_timeline_name() -- reachable unprivileged through SYNC_IOC_FILE_INFO -- dereferences freed slab memory (KASAN slab-use-after-free read).
Per the dma-fence lifetime contract the exporter must keep the data backing a signalled fence alive for an RCU grace period. Free the scheduler-containing objects with kfree_rcu() instead of kfree().
Patchwork: https://patchwork.freedesktop.org/patch/750234/
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98180?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98180?
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-2026-98180 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98180 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Sources
Also known as AZL-106116, BELL-CVE-2026-98180, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98180, GHSA-h748-767h-vm7p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98180.