CVE-2026-72404
Received
Received - Intake
Use-After-Free in Linux Kernel TIPC UDP Media Bearer
Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-72404, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.
Publication date: 2026-08-15
Last updated on: 2026-08-17
Assigner: kernel.org
Description
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tipc: fix UAF in cleanup_bearer() due to premature dst_cache_destroy()
TIPC UDP media bearer teardown calls dst_cache_destroy() on its
replicast caches before calling synchronize_net() to wait for
concurrent RCU readers (transmitters) to finish:
static void cleanup_bearer(struct work_struct *work)
{
...
list_for_each_entry_safe(rcast, tmp, &ub->rcast.list, list) {
dst_cache_destroy(&rcast->dst_cache);
list_del_rcu(&rcast->list);
kfree_rcu(rcast, rcu);
}
...
dst_cache_destroy(&ub->rcast.dst_cache);
udp_tunnel_sock_release(ub->sk);
synchronize_net();
...
}
This is highly buggy because dst_cache_destroy() immediately frees the
per-CPU cache memory (free_percpu()) and releases the cached dst
entries without any synchronization.
If a concurrent transmitter (e.g., tipc_udp_xmit()) is running on another
CPU under RCU protection, it can call dst_cache_get() concurrently,
leading to:
1. Use-After-Free on the per-CPU cache pointer itself (crash).
2. "rcuref - imbalanced put()" warning if it attempts to release a
dst that was concurrently released by dst_cache_destroy().
Furthermore, calling kfree(ub) immediately after synchronize_net() without
closing the socket first (or waiting after closing it) leaves a window
where a concurrent receiver (tipc_udp_recv()) could start after
synchronize_net(), access ub, and suffer a UAF when kfree(ub) runs.
To fix this, we must defer dst_cache_destroy() and kfree(ub) until after
we have ensured that no more readers can see the bearer/socket and all
existing readers have finished:
1. Defer rcast entry destruction (both dst_cache_destroy() and kfree())
to an RCU callback using call_rcu_hurry().
Using call_rcu_hurry() ensures the dst entries are released quickly.
2. Release the bearer socket using udp_tunnel_sock_release() (stops
new receive readers).
3. Call synchronize_net() to wait for all outstanding RCU readers
(both transmit and receive) to finish.
4. Now that it is safe, call dst_cache_destroy() on the main bearer
cache, and free ub.
Note: 3) and 4) can be changed later in net-next to also use
call_rcu_hurry() and get rid of the synchronize_net() latency.
CVSS Scores
EPSS Scores
| Probability: | |
| Percentile: |
Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
| Vendor | Product | Version / Range |
|---|---|---|
| linux_kernel | linux_kernel | * |
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
KEV
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-UNKNOWN |
