In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
tracing: Have trace_event_file have ref counters
The following can crash the kernel:
# cd /sys/kernel/tracing
# echo 'p:sched schedule' > kprobe_events
# exec 5>>events/kprobes/sched/enable
# > kprobe_events
# exec 5>&-
The above commands:
- Change directory to the tracefs directory
- Create a kprobe event (doesn't matter what one)
- Open bash file descriptor 5 on the enable file of the kprobe event
- Delete the kprobe event (removes the files too)
- Close the bash file descriptor 5
The above causes a crash!
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000028
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
CPU: 6 PID: 877 Comm: bash Not tainted 6.5.0-rc4-test-00008-g2c6b6b1029d4-dirty #186
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.2-debian-1.16.2-1 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:tracing_release_file_tr+0xc/0x50
What happens here is that the kprobe event creates a trace_event_file
"file" descriptor that represents the file in tracefs to the event. It
maintains state of the event (is it enabled for the given instance?).
Opening the "enable" file gets a reference to the event "file" descriptor
via the open file descriptor. When the kprobe event is deleted, the file is
also deleted from the tracefs system which also frees the event "file"
descriptor.
But as the tracefs file is still opened by user space, it will not be
totally removed until the final dput() is called on it. But this is not
true with the event "file" descriptor that is already freed. If the user
does a write to or simply closes the file descriptor it will reference the
event "file" descriptor that was just freed, causing a use-after-free bug.
To solve this, add a ref count to the event "file" descriptor as well as a
new flag called "FREED". The "file" will not be freed until the last
reference is released. But the FREE flag will be set when the event is
removed to prevent any more modifications to that event from happening,
even if there's still a reference to the event "file" descriptor.
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (5.5): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 5.5 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 5.5 MEDIUMCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 0.2% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-25). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at every mission impact level.CISA BOD 26-04: 60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at every mission impact level.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
Exploitation none (CISA Vulnrichment) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). All three are CISA's SSVC values (Vulnrichment). EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)60 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA Vulnrichment) · Technical impact partial (CISA Vulnrichment). Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it