Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-90044
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: usb: gadget: f_fs: Fix Use-After-Free in AIO error path In ffs_epfile_write_iter() and ffs_epfile_read_iter(), when ffs_epfile_io() fails with an error other than -EIOCBQUEUED, the io_data structure (`p`) is freed. However, for AIO operations, the kiocb cancel function was already armed and kiocb->private was set to `p`. If a concurrent cancel operation (such as sys_io_cancel()) executes after ffs_epfile_io() fails but before the function frees `p`, a Use-After-Free can occur when the cancellation handler accesses the freed pointer. To securely fix this race condition, we must properly un-arm the cancellation. Invoking `kiocb->ki_complete()` does exactly this by acquiring `ctx->ctx_lock` and safely removing the kiocb from the active sequence. In doing so, it ensures that a parallel io_cancel can no longer discover the kiocb, effectively closing the race window. We then return -EIOCBQUEUED to notify the VFS layer that the kiocb has been consumed and it should avoid attempting to complete the request again or triggering subsequent completion handlers.
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 (6.4th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 6th percentile — 6.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.002 · newest: 0.002 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Linux — versions 4.0
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-90044?
- CVE-2026-90044 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-09-16.
- How severe is CVE-2026-90044?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.