Use After Free in Linux

CVE-2026-31597

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ocfs2: fix use-after-free in ocfs2_fault() when VM_FAULT_RETRY filemap_fault() may drop the mmap_lock before returning VM_FAULT_RETRY, as documented in mm/filemap.c: "If our return value has VM_FAULT_RETRY set, it's because the mmap_lock may be dropped before doing I/O or by lock_folio_maybe_drop_mmap()." When this happens, a concurrent munmap() can call remove_vma() and free the vm_area_struct via RCU. The saved 'vma' pointer in ocfs2_fault() then becomes a dangling pointer, and the subsequent trace_ocfs2_fault() call dereferences it -- a use-after-free. Fix this by saving ip_blkno as a plain integer before calling filemap_fault(), and removing vma from the trace event. Since ip_blkno is copied by value before the lock can be dropped, it remains valid regardless of what happens to the vma or inode afterward.

Vulnerability class: Use-After-Free

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.002 (6.1th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 6.1% 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-2026-31597: held from 0.001 to 0.002.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.002 · change: +0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-31597?
CVE-2026-31597 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Use After Free. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-04-24.
How severe is CVE-2026-31597?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.