bpf: fix crash in bpf_[set|remove]_dentry_xattr for negative dentries
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: fix crash in bpf_[set|remove]_dentry_xattr for negative dentries bpf_set_dentry_xattr and bpf_remove_dentry_xattr BPF kfuncs attempt to lock the inode of the supplied dentry without checking if it is NULL. If a negative dentry is passed (e.g. from security_inode_create), d_inode(dentry) returns NULL, and inode_lock(inode) will cause a NULL pointer dereference. Trivially fix this by adding a NULL check for inode before attempting to lock it, returning -EINVAL if it is NULL. Additionally, drop WARN_ON(!inode) in bpf_xattr_read_permission() and bpf_xattr_write_permission(). These warnings could be triggered by passing a negative dentry to bpf_get_dentry_xattr() or the _locked variants of the xattr kfuncs, potentially causing a Denial of Service on systems with panic_on_warn enabled. Instead, simply return -EINVAL.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-74400
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-vrq8-fr7j-453w
References
More Linux vulnerabilities
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- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
Sources
- CVE-2026-74400 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-74400 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vrq8-fr7j-453w · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-74400 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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