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CVE-2026-97938

Linux: reboot: fix cad_pid use-after-free race

Linux LinuxOperating systems
CVSS
NoneNot scored
ExploitationNo known exploitationNot in CISA KEV, which does not prove it is unexploitedCISA KEV
Exploit odds (EPSS)0.20%Chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 9% of CVEs. Scored 23 Oct 2026FIRST EPSS
Fixed in0c1a966bc047af2801a70b8eb13f9df5d7ab925fAlso 9a17b0e053197a6a42cdc75e75a35b17aa662088, 5a88f78df753993469dab4d1831f8fb4256a9468CVE List
Published25 Sep 2026Updated 21 Oct 2026CVE List

What fixes it

  • 0c1a966bc047af2801a70b8eb13f9df5d7ab925fLinuxCVE List
  • 9a17b0e053197a6a42cdc75e75a35b17aa662088LinuxCVE List
  • 5a88f78df753993469dab4d1831f8fb4256a9468LinuxCVE List

A fixed version on one release line is not the upgrade target for every line. Check your exact version and any vendor backports.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

reboot: fix cad_pid use-after-free race

cad_pid is a single kernel-wide struct pid pointer. proc_do_cad_pid() reads it and passes it to pid_vnr() without protecting the lifetime of the referenced struct pid. A concurrent writer can replace cad_pid and drop the final reference to the old struct pid after the reader has loaded the pointer but before pid_vnr() has finished dereferencing it, causing a use-after-free.

kill_cad_pid() has the same lifetime race when it passes cad_pid to kill_pid().

At the time this issue was reported, an unprivileged user could reach the sysctl through user and PID namespaces because cad_pid was registered in pid_table[]. Moving cad_pid back to the global reboot sysctl table corrected that namespace and permission mismatch, but did not fix the underlying lifetime race.

Fix this by treating cad_pid as an RCU-protected pointer at both read sites and by waiting for a grace period before dropping the old reference on the write side.

call_rcu(&old_pid->rcu, ...) cannot be used here because free_pid() also queues pid->rcu; queueing the same rcu_head twice can corrupt the RCU callback list.

Original KASAN crash stack: kernel/pid.c:545 pid_nr_ns() # reads freed pid->level kernel/pid.c:556 pid_vnr() # calls pid_nr_ns() kernel/pid.c:775 proc_do_cad_pid() # calls pid_vnr(cad_pid)

Text from CVE List

Affected versions 12

  • Linuxaffected: 9ec52099e4b8678a60e9f93e41ad87885d64f3e6 before 0c1a966bc047af2801a70b8eb13f9df5d7ab925fCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 9ec52099e4b8678a60e9f93e41ad87885d64f3e6 before ae3e53fe3c1241855e3a88f74877738349948c78CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 9ec52099e4b8678a60e9f93e41ad87885d64f3e6 before ad72e2566643fff7f01666d845fb026898155e1fCVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 9ec52099e4b8678a60e9f93e41ad87885d64f3e6 before 9a17b0e053197a6a42cdc75e75a35b17aa662088CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 9ec52099e4b8678a60e9f93e41ad87885d64f3e6 before 5a88f78df753993469dab4d1831f8fb4256a9468CVE List
  • Linuxaffected: 2.6.19CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: all versions before 2.6.19CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.6.160 through 6.6.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.12.112 through 6.12.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 6.18.53 through 6.18.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.2.7 through 7.2.*CVE List
  • Linuxunaffected: 7.3CVE List

References 5