Memory-safety bypass via stale BPF register bounds
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Memory-safety bypass in the Linux kernel BPF verifier allows local users to evade checks through an LSM hook return-value load. The check_mem_access() return-value path calls __mark_reg_s32_range() without first clearing stale destination-register bounds, intersecting the real hook range with obsolete bounds. Low-privileged local access is required; the verifier/runtime mismatch bypasses BPF memory-safety enforcement, but no specific post-bypass primitive is documented.
Summary
What happened
Memory-safety bypass in the Linux kernel BPF verifier allows local users to evade checks through an LSM hook return-value load. The check_mem_access() return-value path calls __mark_reg_s32_range() without first clearing stale destination-register bounds, intersecting the real hook range with obsolete bounds. Low-privileged local access is required; the verifier/runtime mismatch bypasses BPF memory-safety enforcement, but no specific post-bypass primitive is documented.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72111
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-367, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 15, 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=1050727d83e70449991c29dd1cf29fe936a63da3
- Affected versionversion=27ca3e20fe80be85a92b10064dfeb56cb2564b1c
- Affected versionversion=5d99e198be279045e6ecefe220f5c52f8ce9bfd5 <0993dc5fc619c0b25ab1310cb11d65e78351c0fe
- Affected versionversion=5d99e198be279045e6ecefe220f5c52f8ce9bfd5 <5a55f9aecc08990940e70f0c7048a80850c5a16a
- Affected versionversion=5d99e198be279045e6ecefe220f5c52f8ce9bfd5 <5e0b273e0a62cc04ec338c7b502797c66c2ed42a
- Affected versionversion=5d99e198be279045e6ecefe220f5c52f8ce9bfd5 <bde92f65042ec14389782dd223f706bf6b59ce5d
- Affected versionversion=6.10.13 <6.11
- Affected versionversion=6.11.2 <6.12
- Affected versionversion=6.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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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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