Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-31501

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ti: icssg-prueth: fix use-after-free of CPPI descriptor in RX path cppi5_hdesc_get_psdata() returns a pointer into the CPPI descriptor. In both emac_rx_packet() and emac_rx_packet_zc(), the descriptor is freed via k3_cppi_desc_pool_free() before the psdata pointer is used by emac_rx_timestamp(), which dereferences psdata[0] and psdata[1]. This constitutes a use-after-free on every received packet that goes through the timestamp path. Defer the descriptor free until after all accesses through the psdata pointer are complete. For emac_rx_packet(), move the free into the requeue label so both early-exit and success paths free the descriptor after all accesses are done. For emac_rx_packet_zc(), move the free to the end of the loop body after emac_dispatch_skb_zc() (which calls emac_rx_timestamp()) has returned.

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: 0.006 (44.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 44th percentile — 44.0% 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-2026-31501: held from 0.004 to 0.006.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.002

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 46eeb90f03e03d5e8f7f9f1f0eb0792104fc5f86, 6.15, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 6.15, 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31501?
CVE-2026-31501 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-2026-31501?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.