Kernel use-after-free via forked knote race
Published Aug 19, 2026 · Updated Aug 20, 2026
Use-after-free in kqueue copy-on-fork in FreeBSD before 15.1-RELEASE-p2 allows local users to gain privileges via a fork race. In sys/kern/kern_event.c, kqueue_fork_copy_knote() copied knote state without holding the kqueue and knlist locks, then evaluated and enqueued the child timer knote after state had changed, so the same copied knote could be linked onto the active list twice. Reachability requires local code execution on a system that uses KQUEUE_CPONFORK; once triggered, the corrupted active list can free a knote that the kernel still references, which FreeBSD reports as a path to privilege escalation.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in kqueue copy-on-fork in FreeBSD before 15.1-RELEASE-p2 allows local users to gain privileges via a fork race. In sys/kern/kern_event.c, kqueue_fork_copy_knote() copied knote state without holding the kqueue and knlist locks, then evaluated and enqueued the child timer knote after state had changed, so the same copied knote could be linked onto the active list twice. Reachability requires local code execution on a system that uses KQUEUE_CPONFORK; once triggered, the corrupted active list can free a knote that the kernel still references, which FreeBSD reports as a path to privilege escalation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-58083
- Published
- Aug 19, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 20, 2026
- Vendor
- The FreeBSD Project
- Product
- FreeBSD
- Classifications
- CWE-416, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 19, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 20, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
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Is a vulnerable build present?
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- Affected versionversion=15.1-RELEASE <p2
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Published CVSS scores
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Technologies
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