Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-31444

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix use-after-free and NULL deref in smb_grant_oplock() smb_grant_oplock() has two issues in the oplock publication sequence: 1) opinfo is linked into ci->m_op_list (via opinfo_add) before add_lease_global_list() is called. If add_lease_global_list() fails (kmalloc returns NULL), the error path frees the opinfo via __free_opinfo() while it is still linked in ci->m_op_list. Concurrent m_op_list readers (opinfo_get_list, or direct iteration in smb_break_all_levII_oplock) dereference the freed node. 2) opinfo->o_fp is assigned after add_lease_global_list() publishes the opinfo on the global lease list. A concurrent find_same_lease_key() can walk the lease list and dereference opinfo->o_fp->f_ci while o_fp is still NULL. Fix by restructuring the publication sequence to eliminate post-publish failure: - Set opinfo->o_fp before any list publication (fixes NULL deref). - Preallocate lease_table via alloc_lease_table() before opinfo_add() so add_lease_global_list() becomes infallible after publication. - Keep the original m_op_list publication order (opinfo_add before lease list) so concurrent opens via same_client_has_lease() and opinfo_get_list() still see the in-flight grant. - Use opinfo_put() instead of __free_opinfo() on err_out so that the RCU-deferred free path is used. This also requires splitting add_lease_global_list() to take a preallocated lease_table and changing its return type from int to void, since it can no longer fail.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.007 (49.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 49th percentile — 49.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-31444: held from 0.004 to 0.007.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 302fef75512b2c8329a3f5efab1ae7ba2562387a, 08aa9f3c8cf4d0bee44df540dfe34e8d64069f2c, 1d6abf145615dbfe267ce3b0a271f95e3780e18e
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.6.130, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31444?
CVE-2026-31444 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-04-22.
How severe is CVE-2026-31444?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.