Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-74493
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/smc: fix socket use-after-free during link group termination __smc_lgr_terminate() drops conns_lock after finding a connection in lgr->conns_all, but before taking a reference on its socket. The connection is embedded in the socket, and its registration reference protects it only while the connection remains in the tree. A concurrent close can unregister the connection and drop that reference, freeing the socket before the termination worker reaches sock_hold(). The race is reachable when close overlaps link group termination. Local stress testing reproduced the use-after-free and KASAN reported: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __smc_lgr_terminate.part.0 [smc] Write of size 4 by task kworker/3:3 Workqueue: events smc_lgr_terminate_work [smc] __smc_lgr_terminate.part.0 [smc] The socket was allocated by smc_create(), freed through slab_free_after_rcu_debug(), and was followed by: refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. __smc_lgr_terminate.part.0 [smc] Take the socket reference while conns_lock still protects the tree entry. The unregister path then cannot drop the last reference until termination has finished using the socket.
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 (52.6th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 53rd percentile — 52.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.007 · change: +0.002
Affected products
- Linux — versions 69318b5215f2dc32c345a3d65b98b4b1bf29c007, 7.2-rc6, 7.2
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-74493?
- CVE-2026-74493 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
- How severe is CVE-2026-74493?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.