HighCVE-2026-46259

    Linux Kernel: Use After Free (CVE-2026-46259)

    Published Last modified Sources: Ubuntu, HKCERT, BSI, SUSE, Red Hat, CVE.org

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    What is affected, what to do

    A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's procfs component. When reading /proc/[pid]/stat, the do_task_stat() function accesses task->real_parent without proper Read-Copy-Update (RCU) protection.

    Update Linux Kernel to version 5.10.252, Linux Kernel to version 5.15.202, Linux Kernel to version 6.1.165.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 2.6.26..5.10.252
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.11..5.15.202
    • Linux Kernel lt 5.16..6.1.165
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.2..6.6.128
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.7..6.12.75
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.13..6.18.14
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..6.19.4
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.20..7.0
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 5.10.252
    • Linux Kernel 5.15.202
    • Linux Kernel 6.1.165
    • Linux Kernel 6.6.128
    • Linux Kernel 6.12.75
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.14
    • Linux Kernel 6.19.4
    • Linux Kernel 7.0

    Not sure whether and how you are affected? Ask a question about this vulnerability

    Metrics

    7.8

    Priority

    XIEM Effective CVSS: highest available CVSS rating from NVD and vendor data.

    Source: NVD, CVSS v3

    7.8

    CVSS v3

    Severity High on the scale from 0 to 10.

    Source: Ubuntu, HKCERT, BSI, SUSE, Red Hat, CVE.org

    0.1 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 1.9

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    High
    Priority (0–325)

    The priority score is a consolidated metric that condenses several individual signals into a single, action-guiding ranking: technical severity (CVSS), exploitation likelihood (EPSS), known-exploited status (KEV) and the context of the affected asset. The aim is to answer the only truly important question in vulnerability management: what first?

    Read in glossary
    56.95 Methodology
    Exploit maturity

    An exploit is code or a technique that specifically uses a concrete vulnerability to force unintended behaviour — such as executing code or escalating privileges. It is the tool that turns a theoretical flaw into a practical attack.

    Read in glossary
    no public PoC known
    XIEM Effective CVSS

    XIEM® is the tiered managed-security operating model from NEOSEC and a registered trademark of NEOSEC GmbH. It extends classic SIEM — the central collection, normalisation and correlation of security-relevant events — with endpoint forensics, network visibility and deception technology, and consolidates them into three building tiers: Sentry, Orchestrate and Command.

    Read in glossary
    7.8 Methodology
    CVSS v3

    CVSS is the globally established, open standard for assessing the technical severity of a vulnerability on a scale from 0 to 10. It describes how easily a flaw can be exploited and what damage it can cause — but not how likely its actual exploitation is. CVSS and the complementary EPSS deliberately answer different questions.

    Read in glossary
    7.8
    EPSS score

    The EPSS score is the absolute model output for an individual vulnerability: the estimated probability of real-world exploitation within the next 30 days, expressed as a value between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 % to 100 %). A score of 0.42 means „the model estimates a 42 % chance of real-world exploitation within 30 days“.

    Read in glossary
    0.1 %
    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.
    EPSS percentile

    The EPSS percentile is the relative position of a vulnerability within all EPSS-scored CVEs, expressed as a value between 0 and 1. A percentile of 0.90 means „this CVE has a higher EPSS score than 90 % of all other scored CVEs“. Unlike the EPSS score, it is not a probability — but a positioning within a ranking.

    Read in glossary
    1.9
    Low — this CVE sits in the lower 10% of all CVEs scored today.
    KEV status

    The KEV catalogue is a list maintained by the US authority CISA of vulnerabilities for which active exploitation in the wild has been confirmed. It answers not the question „how severe?“ but „is it already being attacked?“ — thereby sharply prioritising patching.

    Read in glossary
    —
    Published
    CISA assessment (SSVC)
    Exploitation: none known · not automatable · Technical impact: total
    Source: CISA Vulnrichment, as of 16 October 2026
    CWE

    CWE is a catalogue of typical weakness types in software and hardware — such as flawed input validation, unsafe memory handling or poor authentication. Where a CVE names a concrete vulnerability in a concrete product, a CWE describes the underlying class of defect.

    Read in glossary
    CWE-416

    Detection rules

    No NEOSEC detection rule is available for this vulnerability yet.

    Classification under NIS2 and CRA

    Rule-based classification from exploitation status and severity. It does not replace a case-by-case assessment.

    NIS2

    NIS2 is EU Directive (EU) 2022/2555 to raise the level of cybersecurity across the Union. It substantially broadens obligations compared with the first NIS directive: more sectors, mandatory risk management, staged reporting duties and personal accountability of senior management.

    Read in glossary
    High technical severity: assess and remediate the vulnerability in vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2 and document the decision.
    CRA

    The CRA is EU Regulation (EU) 2024/2847 setting horizontal cybersecurity requirements for „products with digital elements“ — from industrial controllers and software to connected consumer devices. For the first time manufacturers must ensure security across the entire product lifecycle, handle vulnerabilities and provide security updates.

    Read in glossary
    From 11.12.2027, Annex I Part II CRA requires manufacturers of affected products with digital elements to handle vulnerabilities without delay and provide security updates.
    ISO/IEC 27001

    ISO/IEC 27001 is the internationally leading standard for an information security management system (ISMS). It describes a risk-based, process-oriented framework to systematically plan, implement, review and improve information security.

    Read in glossary
    Control A.8.8, management of technical vulnerabilities: assess relevance to your systems, plan remediation and keep evidence.

    Description

    A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's procfs component. When reading /proc/[pid]/stat, the do_task_stat() function accesses task->real_parent without proper Read-Copy-Update (RCU) protection. This missing protection creates a race condition, which can lead to a Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerability. A local attacker could potentially exploit this to cause a system crash or achieve other unspecified impacts.

    Source: Ubuntu Security Notices, HKCERT (CC BY 3.0 HK) · HKCERT rating: medium, BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, suse_csaf, redhat_csaf, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST), CVE.org (MITRE)

    Affected products

    The following versions are affected. Older releases of the same product line are also vulnerable unless stated otherwise.

    Affected products
    Affected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 5.16 – < 6.1.165
    • 6.7 – < 6.12.75
    • 6.19 – < 6.19.4
    • 6.20 – < 7.0
    • 2.6.26 – < 5.10.252
    • 5.11 – < 5.15.202
    • 6.2 – < 6.6.128
    • 6.13 – < 6.18.14
    • 6.1.165
    • 6.12.75
    • 6.19.4
    • 7.0
    • 5.10.252
    • 5.15.202
    • 6.6.128
    • 6.18.14
    IBMDataPower Gateway
    • < 11.0.0.3
    • < 10.6.0.11
    • < 10.5.0.23
    • 11.0.0.3
    • 10.6.0.11
    • 10.5.0.23
    IBMQRadar SIEM
    • <7.5.0 UP15 IF06
    • —

    Vendors and products

    Affected operating systems

    Affected operating systems
    Linuxubuntuawsbionic
    Linuxubuntuawsjammy
    Linuxubuntuawsnoble
    Linuxubuntuawsresolute
    Linuxubuntuawsxenial
    Linuxubuntuaws-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntuaws-hwexenial
    Linuxubuntuazurejammy
    Linuxubuntuazurenoble
    Linuxubuntuazureresolute
    Linuxubuntuazurexenial
    Linuxubuntuazure-4.15bionic
    Linuxubuntugcpjammy
    Linuxubuntugcpnoble
    Linuxubuntugcpresolute
    Linuxubuntugcpxenial
    Linuxubuntugcp-4.15bionic
    Linuxubuntugcp-6.8jammy
    Linuxubuntugeneric-4.15bionic
    Linuxubuntugeneric-4.15xenial
    Linuxubuntugeneric-4.4xenial
    Linuxubuntugeneric-5.4bionic
    Linuxubuntugeneric-5.4focal
    Linuxubuntugkejammy

    Weakness classes (CWE)

    • CWE-416Use After Free

      Variant

      The product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.

      Entry at MITRE CWE-416

    References & sources

    Changes to this CVE

    Who changed this CVE and when: NVD (analysis, affected products, CVSS), the CVE publisher (CNA) and additional providers such as CISA (ADP).

    1. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      Weakness type: CWE-416

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Weakness type (CWE)added
      —
      CWE-416

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    2. Record modifiedLinux

      Show 24 original changes
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e64bd46a04a4fd61279aca9f53a664e9e5f7e7e
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c8dc5b5517546c68ffae40b948336122bb61306
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4f9ae386861e280b7631ca252f798d25575627ee
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ec7c96601d61d52310c659145bb06d933a0fa6
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76149d53502cf17ef3ae454ff384551236fba867
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c93a33f28f915d446eea6fb3f0e1def0b3af1982
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd8b13cb4ff1a4545a214ed897fdf2bc341155b6
      Referenceadded
      —
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fefa0fcd78be465b7ad4c497fa6ec90d64194c04
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e64bd46a04a4fd61279aca9f53a664e9e5f7e7e
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c8dc5b5517546c68ffae40b948336122bb61306
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4f9ae386861e280b7631ca252f798d25575627ee
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ec7c96601d61d52310c659145bb06d933a0fa6
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76149d53502cf17ef3ae454ff384551236fba867
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c93a33f28f915d446eea6fb3f0e1def0b3af1982
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd8b13cb4ff1a4545a214ed897fdf2bc341155b6
      —
      Referenceremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fefa0fcd78be465b7ad4c497fa6ec90d64194c04
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e64bd46a04a4fd61279aca9f53a664e9e5f7e7e Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1c8dc5b5517546c68ffae40b948336122bb61306 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4f9ae386861e280b7631ca252f798d25575627ee Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/73ec7c96601d61d52310c659145bb06d933a0fa6 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/76149d53502cf17ef3ae454ff384551236fba867 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c93a33f28f915d446eea6fb3f0e1def0b3af1982 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd8b13cb4ff1a4545a214ed897fdf2bc341155b6 Types: Patch
      —
      Reference typeremoved
      https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fefa0fcd78be465b7ad4c497fa6ec90d64194c04 Types: Patch
      —

      Source identifier: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

    3. Record modifiedCISA ADP

      CISA assessment (SSVC): exploitation: none known, automatable: no

      Show the original change
      Individual changes of this event as published by NVD
      TypeActionBeforeAfter
      SSVC assessmentadded
      —
      {"id":"CVE-2026-46259","role":"CISA Coordinator","options":[{"exploitation":"none"},{"automatable":"no"},{"technicalImpact":"total"}],"version":"2.0.3","timestamp":"2026-10-16T15:21:25.410048Z"}

      Source identifier: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    One NVD translation into another language is hidden.

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