CVE-2026-89988

7.8 HIGH

Published 2026-09-16 · Updated 2026-09-16

AI risk analysis

Summary: The flaw allows an attacker to dereference freed memory by concurrently accessing the kprobe_blacklist while a module is being unloaded, leading to potential kernel crashes or arbitrary code execution.
Exploitability: Exploitation requires concurrent access to the kprobe_blacklist during module unloading, which is a complex precondition and not easily achievable without specific knowledge of the system.
Blast radius: If exploited, the vulnerability could lead to a complete system compromise, as it could allow arbitrary code execution within the kernel context.
Detection: No reliable host or network indicator is derivable from the published description.
Prioritized remediation: Upgrade to the specific version 5.10.100 or later, as published in the advisory.

kernelmemory-safetyrcuexploit-prevention

Analysis generated locally by qwen2.5:7b-instruct (no data left the box). AI-assisted — verify against primary sources before acting.

NVD description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: kprobes: Protect kprobe_blacklist with RCU __within_kprobe_blacklist() traverses kprobe_blacklist without holding kprobe_mutex. When a module is unloaded, kprobe_remove_area_blacklist() removes blacklist entries and immediately frees them with kfree(). A concurrent call to within_kprobe_blacklist() can therefore dereference freed memory. Furthermore, within_kprobe_blacklist() can be called in atomic or non-preemptible contexts where the sleeping kprobe_mutex cannot be taken. Protect kprobe_blacklist with RCU. Use guard(rcu)() and list_for_each_entry_rcu() for traversal, list_add_tail_rcu() for insertions, list_del_rcu() for deletions, and kfree_rcu() to reclaim entries safely after a grace period.

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References

Data: NVD (public domain). Analysis: local $0 model. Defensive use only.