CVE-2026-74478

CVE-2026-74478

Critical · published August 15, 2026

CVSS v3.1
9.8
EPSS
1%
Percentile
58.2
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

um: vector: fix use-after-free in vector_mmsg_rx()

When vector_mmsg_rx() discards a packet whose overlay header fails

verify_header(), it frees the skb and continues the loop:

if (header_check < 0) {

dev_kfree_skb_irq(skb);

vp->estats.rx_encaps_errors++;

continue;

}

The normal and short-packet paths fall through to the bottom of the

loop body, which clears the consumed slot and advances the cursors:

(*skbuff_vector) = NULL;

mmsg_vector++;

skbuff_vector++;

The verify_header() < 0 path skips that via continue, so the freed skb

is left in skbuff_vector[] and the cursors do not advance. The next

iteration reads the same slot, gets the freed skb, and frees it again,

producing a refcount underflow / use-after-free in the RX path.

Discard the slot the same way the other paths do before continuing.

Only transports whose verify_header() can return negative are affected:

GRE and L2TPv3 do so on a cookie/session-id mismatch (raw/tap do not),

so any peer on such a transport can trigger it without authentication.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS v3.1
9.8 · CRITICAL
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.00864 · 58.2th percentile
Published
2026-08-15T17:17Z
References (8)
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 15 AUG 12:27Z
    um: vector: fix use-after-free in vector_mmsg_rx()
    cvelistv5