Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-74478

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: um: vector: fix use-after-free in vector_mmsg_rx() When vector_mmsg_rx() discards a packet whose overlay header fails verify_header(), it frees the skb and continues the loop: if (header_check < 0) { dev_kfree_skb_irq(skb); vp->estats.rx_encaps_errors++; continue; } The normal and short-packet paths fall through to the bottom of the loop body, which clears the consumed slot and advances the cursors: (*skbuff_vector) = NULL; mmsg_vector++; skbuff_vector++; The verify_header() < 0 path skips that via continue, so the freed skb is left in skbuff_vector[] and the cursors do not advance. The next iteration reads the same slot, gets the freed skb, and frees it again, producing a refcount underflow / use-after-free in the RX path. Discard the slot the same way the other paths do before continuing. Only transports whose verify_header() can return negative are affected: GRE and L2TPv3 do so on a cookie/session-id mismatch (raw/tap do not), so any peer on such a transport can trigger it without authentication.

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: 0.009 (57.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 57th percentile — 57.0% 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-2026-74478: held from 0.006 to 0.009.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.009 · change: +0.003

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 7.2-rc6, 4.17, 7.2

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-74478?
CVE-2026-74478 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
How severe is CVE-2026-74478?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.