Bug 2517054 (CVE-2026-74512) - CVE-2026-74512 kernel: audit: fix potential use-after-free in audit_del_rule()
Summary: CVE-2026-74512 kernel: audit: fix potential use-after-free in audit_del_rule()
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-74512
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-08-15 12:47 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-08-19 17:59 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 12:47:15 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

audit: fix potential use-after-free in audit_del_rule()

`audit_del_rule()` destroys `e->rule.exe` via `audit_remove_mark_rule()`
before unlinking the rule from RCU-visible filter lists and waiting for a
grace period. Concurrent readers in `audit_filter()` and
`audit_filter_rules()` still dereference `e->rule.exe`, while the fsnotify
mark can be freed on an independent lifetime path. This creates a
use-after-free window during rule deletion.

Fix this by unlinking the rule from the RCU-visible lists and invoking
`synchronize_rcu()` before calling `audit_remove_mark_rule()` (and other
rule removal helpers). This ensures that all existing RCU readers have
exited the critical section before any underlying resources are destroyed.

Comment 1 Mauro Matteo Cascella 2026-08-19 17:56:37 UTC
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081543-CVE-2026-74512-3449@gregkh/T


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