Bug 2532209 (CVE-2026-89746)

Summary: CVE-2026-89746 kernel: tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's tracing component. A local user can exploit a use-after-free vulnerability by registering multiple histogram triggers with the same name. This action causes the kernel to attempt to access freed memory, leading to a system crash and a Denial of Service (DoS).
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-11 21:22:37 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers

When two hist triggers on different events are registered with the same
name=, the second one reuses the first as named_data.  Both are added to
tr->hist_vars by save_hist_vars() during event_hist_trigger_parse(),
because save_hist_vars() is called before event_trigger_register() while
the named reuse is only detected later, in hist_register_trigger().

In the named-data branch hist_register_trigger() then frees the second
histogram's hist_data via destroy_hist_data(), but never removes its
tr->hist_vars list entry, leaving a dangling pointer and leaking the
trace_array reference it holds.

A later hist trigger that references a variable makes find_var_file()
walk tr->hist_vars and dereference the freed hist_data.  The bug is
reproducible from userspace by writing three hist triggers to tracefs:

  cd /sys/kernel/tracing
  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:x=common_pid:name=mh' > events/sched/sched_switch/trigger
  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:x=common_pid:name=mh' > events/sched/sched_process_fork/trigger
  echo 'hist:keys=common_pid:vals=$x' > events/sched/sched_process_exit/trigger

The third write panics the kernel:

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in find_var_file.part.0+0x272/0x290
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff888001f8a0e0 by task sh/1
  CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1 Comm: sh Tainted: G      D          N
  Call Trace:
    find_var_file.part.0
    find_event_var
    parse_atom
    parse_expr
    __create_val_field
    event_hist_trigger_parse
    trigger_process_regex
    event_trigger_write
    vfs_write
    ksys_write
    do_syscall_64
    entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe
  Allocated by task 1:
    event_hist_trigger_parse
  Freed by task 1:
    hist_register_trigger+0x618/0xa30
    event_hist_trigger_parse
  The buggy address belongs to freed 2048-byte region
  Oops: general protection fault ... RIP: find_var_file.part.0
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x0000000b

Fix by removing the hist_data from tr->hist_vars and releasing the
trace_array reference in the named-data branch of hist_register_trigger()
before freeing the hist_data.