Kernel crash via racing BPF timer cancellation
Published Apr 3, 2024 · Updated Aug 5, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux kernel BPF timer helpers from 5.15 allows local users with BPF privileges to crash the kernel through a timer race. The bpf_timer_cancel helper dereferences a bpf_hrtimer after concurrent bpf_timer_cancel_and_free has removed and freed it outside the spin lock. Reaching the race requires local low-privileged BPF capability, and successful triggering can interrupt the host by crashing its kernel.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux kernel BPF timer helpers from 5.15 allows local users with BPF privileges to crash the kernel through a timer race. The bpf_timer_cancel helper dereferences a bpf_hrtimer after concurrent bpf_timer_cancel_and_free has removed and freed it outside the spin lock. Reaching the race requires local low-privileged BPF capability, and successful triggering can interrupt the host by crashing its kernel.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-26737
- Published
- Apr 3, 2024
- Updated
- Aug 5, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-416
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 3, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 5, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=5.15
- Affected versionversion=b00628b1c7d595ae5b544e059c27b1f5828314b4 <0281b919e175bb9c3128bd3872ac2903e9436e3f
- Affected versionversion=b00628b1c7d595ae5b544e059c27b1f5828314b4 <5268bb02107b9eedfdcd51db75b407d10043368c
- Affected versionversion=b00628b1c7d595ae5b544e059c27b1f5828314b4 <7d80a9e745fa5b47da3bca001f186c02485c7c33
- Affected versionversion=b00628b1c7d595ae5b544e059c27b1f5828314b4 <8327ed12e8ebc5436bfaa1786c49988894f9c8a6
- Affected versionversion=b00628b1c7d595ae5b544e059c27b1f5828314b4 <addf5e297e6cbf5341f9c07720693ca9ba0057b5
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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