Critical severity · published Aug 15, 2026
CVE-2026-72322
ipv6: mcast: Fix potential UAF in MLD delayed work
9.8
CVSS
0.7%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipv6: mcast: Fix potential UAF in MLD delayed work
A race condition exists between device teardown and incoming MLD query
processing, leading to a Use-After-Free in the MLD delayed work.
During device destruction, the primary reference to inet6_dev is dropped,
which can drop its refcount to 0. The actual freeing of inet6_dev memory
is deferred via RCU.
Concurrently, the packet receive path runs under RCU read lock and obtains
the inet6_dev pointer. Because the memory is RCU-protected, CPU-0 can
safely dereference inet6_dev even if its refcount has hit 0.
However, if CPU-0 calls igmp6_event_query() and schedules delayed work, it
attempts to acquire a reference using in6_dev_hold(). This increments the
refcount from 0 to 1, triggering a "refcount_t: addition on 0" warning.
Since the inet6_dev memory is still scheduled to be freed after the RCU
grace period, the device is freed while the work is still scheduled.
When the work runs, it accesses the freed memory, causing a kernel panic.
Fix this by using refcount_inc_not_zero() (via a new helper
in6_dev_hold_safe()) to prevent acquiring a reference if the device is
already being destroyed. If the refcount is 0, we do not schedule the work.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.7% · higher than 54% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
LI
Linux · Linux
1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before f12b63ef26a035c5a29b3ef56401e38199010d4a; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 0401d6cf7877c9be36652385dfcbf7f891b8b590; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before f03b0a45535d49bdab7e502efaacee205b2a7865; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 9815e834f5ff8b39e0ea9f0dbd532f4a3b8f0785; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before ebbebf6cee950d7f1c81990256c0eae9e62572ae; 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 before 9ce741c22df4fd9546e30306317ac7df3607e48f; +3 more · source: vendor
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72322
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72322
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0401d6cf7877c9be36652385dfcbf7f891b8b590
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0458ba1cda830ba4ccfcd9e19c0891438bcdbe4e
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9815e834f5ff8b39e0ea9f0dbd532f4a3b8f0785
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9b26518b6896a16b809b1e42986f4ebac7bccc1e
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9ce741c22df4fd9546e30306317ac7df3607e48f
git.kernel.org
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ebbebf6cee950d7f1c81990256c0eae9e62572ae
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