Not ratedCVE-2026-90005

    Linux Kernel: Use-After-Free (CVE-2026-90005)

    Published Last modified Sources: BSI, CVE.org

    What is affected, what to do

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: samples/damon/wsse: handle damon_start() failure Patch series "samples/damon: handle damon_{start,stop}() failures". All DAMON sample modules are not correctly handling failures from damon_start().

    Update Linux Kernel to version 6.18.51, Linux Kernel to version 7.2.5, Linux Kernel to version 7.3.

    Affected
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.14..6.18.51
    • Linux Kernel lt 6.19..7.2.5
    Fixed in
    • Linux Kernel 6.18.51
    • Linux Kernel 7.2.5
    • Linux Kernel 7.3

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    Metrics

    —

    Priority

    No value is available for this vulnerability.

    —

    CVSS v3

    No value is available for this vulnerability.

    0.2 %

    EPSS score

    Low — model estimates < 1% exploitation likelihood.

    Source: FIRST EPSS, percentile 10.1

    Show all metrics
    Severity
    Not rated
    Priority score

    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
    29.96
    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.

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    no public PoC known
    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“.

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    0.2 %
    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
    10.1
    Elevated — this CVE ranks above at least 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.

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    —
    Published

    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.

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    Handle the vulnerability in regular vulnerability handling under Art. 21(2)(e) NIS2.
    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

    In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: samples/damon/wsse: handle damon_start() failure Patch series "samples/damon: handle damon_{start,stop}() failures". All DAMON sample modules are not correctly handling failures from damon_start(). Among those, mtier also has an additional problem for handling of damon_stop() failures. wsse and prcl also have a problem in their damon_call() failure handling. As a result, memory leaks, next DAMON operation disruptions, and use-after-free can happen. Fix those. Note that only the damon_start() failure caused issues can reliably be reproduced. Reproducing those issues require the admin permission, though. This patch (of 6): damon_sample_wsse_start() callers assume it will clean up resources when it fails. And the function does the cleanup for context buildup failures. However, it is not doing the cleanup for damon_start() failure. As a result, when damon_start() fails, it leaks the memory for DAMON context. Free the context in case of the failure to fix the issues. Note that the issue can reliably be reproduced because the module calls damon_start() in the exclusive mode. For example, $ sudo damo start $ echo $$ | sudo tee /sys/module/damon_sample_wsse/parameters/target_pid $ echo Y | sudo tee /sys/module/damon_sample_wsse/parameters/enabled $ sudo cat /proc/allocinfo | grep damon_new_ctx Because the first command is running another DAMON instance, the third command fails the damon_start() call because the new DAMON instance cannot exclusively run. And without this fix, by repeating the third and the fourth commands above, we can show the memory consumption is only increasing due to the leaks. It requires the sudo permission though. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.

    Source: BSI WID Portal, BSI CSAF, cvelistv5, NVD (NIST)

    Affected products

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

    Affected products
    VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
    LinuxLinux
    • 6.14 – < 6.18.51
    • 6.19 – < 7.2.5
    • —
    • 6.18.51
    • 7.2.5
    • 7.3

    References & sources

    Reanalysis & status changes

    Chronological NVD audit events for this CVE — reanalyses, CVSS updates, CPE diffs.

    1. CVE Modified416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

      • Affected: after Affected value modified. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/90xxx/CVE-2026-90005.json">CVE-2026-90005</a>

    2. New CVE Received416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

      • Description: after In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: samples/damon/wsse: handle damon_start() failure Patch series "samples/damon: handle damon_{start,stop}() failures". All DAMON sample modules are not correctly handling failures from damon_start(). Among those, mtier also has an additional problem for handling of damon_stop() failures. wsse and prcl also have a problem in their damon_call() failure handling. As a result, memory leaks, next DAMON operation disruptions, and use-after-free can happen. Fix those. Note that only the damon_start() failure caused issues can reliably be reproduced. Reproducing those issues require the admin permission, though. This patch (of 6): damon_sample_wsse_start() callers assume it will clean up resources when it fails. And the function does the cleanup for context buildup failures. However, it is not doing the cleanup for damon_start() failure. As a result, when damon_start() fails, it leaks the memory for DAMON context. Free the context in case of the failure to fix the issues. Note that the issue can reliably be reproduced because the module calls damon_start() in the exclusive mode. For example, $ sudo damo start $ echo $$ | sudo tee /sys/module/damon_sample_wsse/parameters/target_pid $ echo Y | sudo tee /sys/module/damon_sample_wsse/parameters/enabled $ sudo cat /proc/allocinfo | grep damon_new_ctx Because the first command is running another DAMON instance, the third command fails the damon_start() call because the new DAMON instance cannot exclusively run. And without this fix, by repeating the third and the fourth commands above, we can show the memory consumption is only increasing due to the leaks. It requires the sudo permission though. The issue was discovered [1] by Sashiko.
      • Affected: after New affected value received. <a href="https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/blob/main/cves/2026/90xxx/CVE-2026-90005.json">CVE-2026-90005</a>
      • Reference: after https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6179c7f47876d576dfe30efa8fbf1b0b1fdd13c0
      • Reference: after https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e4742be45ea45bf554399ce89a09f71e525d7981