Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-72440

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: md/raid1: fix writes_pending and barrier reference leaks on write failures raid1_make_request() acquires a writes_pending reference with md_write_start() before calling raid1_write_request(). Several failure paths in raid1_write_request() complete the bio and return without reaching the normal write completion path, causing the corresponding md_write_end() to be skipped. Make raid1_write_request() return a status indicating whether the write request was successfully queued. This allows raid1_make_request() to call md_write_end() when raid1_write_request() fails. Additionally, if wait_blocked_rdev() fails after wait_barrier() succeeds, the associated barrier reference is not released. Call allow_barrier() before returning from that path to keep the barrier accounting balanced.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (29.4th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 29th percentile — 29.4% 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-2026-72440: held from 0.004 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.000

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.2-rc1, 7.2, 5.17

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72440?
CVE-2026-72440 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2026-08-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-72440?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.