Bug 2517063 (CVE-2026-74477)

Summary: CVE-2026-74477 kernel: uprobes: Fix NULL pointer dereference in hprobe_expire()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's uprobes mechanism. A local attacker could exploit a race condition by forking a task with a pending uretprobe while another CPU unregisters the uprobe. This could lead to a NULL pointer dereference in the hprobe_expire() function, causing a kernel oops and resulting in a system crash, effectively a denial of service.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 12:47:44 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

uprobes: Fix NULL pointer dereference in hprobe_expire()

Forking a task that has a pending uretprobe can oops the kernel with a
NULL pointer dereference in the clone() path:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000018
  Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
  RIP: 0010:hprobe_expire
  CR2: 0000000000000018
  Call Trace:
   uprobe_copy_process
   copy_process
   kernel_clone
   __x64_sys_clone
   do_syscall_64
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe

This was found on real hosts on Meta fleet.

I've got the impression that this is what is happening:

  CPU 1                          CPU 2 (traced task)
  -----                          -------------------
                                 hit uprobe, prepare_uretprobe():
                                   hprobe LEASED, refcount >= 1
  uprobe_unregister()
    put_uprobe(): refcount -> 0
                                 fork() -> dup_utask()
                                   hprobe_expire(hprobe, true)
                                     try_get_uprobe() -> NULL
                                     get_uprobe(NULL)   <-- Oops

Only take the extra reference when the uprobe is non-NULL; a NULL means
it is gone and is the correct value to return.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-08-19 16:20:06 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081536-CVE-2026-74477-24c8@gregkh/T