Use-after-free in Linux kernel named keyring lookup
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
- —
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel from 2.6.30 contains a use-after-free in the keys subsystem's named keyring lookup. The lookup reads the owner UID through a pointer to an account that a concurrent privileged KEYCTL_CHOWN can free, so a local user racing a named session keyring join against that chown can read freed memory.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: keys: Avoid the owner account dereference in named keyring lookup Named keyring lookup must keep the storage containing the owner UID alive through the namespace mapping check. find_keyring_by_name() reads keyring->user->uid under keyring_name_lock, but that lock protects the keyring's name entry and allocation, not its separate key_user. A named session-keyring join can overlap a privileged KEYCTL_CHOWN on another CPU. If the keyring holds the last reference to its old dynamic key_user and the ownership transfer succeeds, the following ordering is possible: Named join Chown find_keyring_by_name() keyctl_chown_key() read_lock(keyring_name_lock) down_write(key->sem) load old keyring->user replace key->user and key->uid up_write(key->sem) key_put(key) key_user_put(old user): free read old user->uid read_unlock(keyring_name_lock) Chown neither takes keyring_name_lock nor key_session_mutex, so it can free the old account between the pointer load and the UID read. The lookup then reads freed memory even though the keyring itself is alive. Use keyring->uid for the mapping check. key_alloc() initializes this inline owner UID and keyctl_chown_key() updates it on chown. The existing name lock keeps its containing keyring allocated throughout the check, so lookup no longer depends on the account's lifetime. This also matches the owner UID used by the permission check. KASAN report as below: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in find_keyring_by_name+0x577/0x5d0 Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881128ae2ec by task keycase/500
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.30 and later | 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.60, 7.2.14, 7.3.1, 7.4-rc1 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.30 and later Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.60, 7.2.14, 7.3.1, 7.4-rc1 Patch available CNA
Remediation
Fixed Linux kernel versions are 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.60, 7.2.14, 7.3.1 and 7.4-rc1. Red Hat has no fix available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9 and 10 or for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5, and plans no fix for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.60, 7.2.14, 7.3.1, 7.4-rc1
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 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Timeline
- 2026-11-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99226
- 2026-11-02 Alias added: GHSA-9pjv-mg4c-3j9m
- 2026-11-03 Fix available: Linux/Linux@51409aaa01f8602552c336009fd22b226b0cdf1d, Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-11-03 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-11-04 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-04 CVSS score added · Red Hat
References
Other 9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77249d4b1bb5ad43552b7023c4a0978937aa7a56
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0b865fa477d94ac96c26848aab1fd176397de3f6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6763329f673d261641c79212abf773af77b2c922
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa03c8fb4334f14d218020f7431debf2b7766865
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c9664f780f861dd9f11f120c7a03ed0993671ebb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b0830a26e2c3008a6e21863126b4a0e68b2761cd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5c6a9512887a6cc694d594d9c0b57c0841d215b5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/40b12b93ae4ab9e22c3d571e9b09fd08afad53f6
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/51409aaa01f8602552c336009fd22b226b0cdf1d
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Sources
- CVE-2026-99226 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-99226 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-9pjv-mg4c-3j9m · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-99226 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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