CVE-2026-72493

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: serialize netif_running() check in enqueue_to_backlog() Syzbot reported a KASAN slab-use-after-free in fib_rules_lookup(). The root cause is a race condition where packets can escape the backlog flushing during device unregistration (e.g., during netns exit). Commit e9e4dd3267d0 ("net: do not process device backlog during unregistration") introduced a lockless netif_running() check in enqueue_to_backlog() to prevent queuing packets to an unregistering device. However, this creates a TOCTOU race window. A lockless transmitter (like veth_xmit) can pass the check before dev_close() clears IFF_UP. If the transmitter is then delayed, flush_all_backlogs() can run and finish before the transmitter grabs the backlog lock and queues the packet. The packet then escapes the flush and triggers UAF later when processed. Fix this by moving the netif_running() check inside the backlog lock. This serializes the check with the flush work (which also grabs the lock). We then either queue the packet before the flush runs (so it gets flushed), or check netif_running() after the flush/close completes (so it gets dropped).

Affected products

Kernel, Linux, Linux-Allwinner-5.19, Linux-Aws, Linux-Aws-5.0, Linux-Aws-5.11, Linux-Aws-5.13, Linux-Aws-5.15

CVSS 3.1

9.9 CRITICAL

EPSS

0.3% (27th percentile)

NVD status

Received

Published

2026-08-15

No exploit for CVE-2026-72493 has been indexed yet. Our index is built from live traffic and upstream syncs, so this page can only say what it knows — not that no exploit exists.