Local privilege escalation via wrong UAR release
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel RDMA/mlx5 driver allows local users to gain kernel privileges through a failed UAR mapping. The uar_mmap error path gives the deallocator the software-managed UAR index instead of the hardware-returned index, freeing another context's live resource. Access to an mlx5 /dev/infiniband/uverbs device is required; cross-context reuse can expose device state, alter device operations, or crash the host.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in the Linux kernel RDMA/mlx5 driver allows local users to gain kernel privileges through a failed UAR mapping. The uar_mmap error path gives the deallocator the software-managed UAR index instead of the hardware-returned index, freeing another context's live resource. Access to an mlx5 /dev/infiniband/uverbs device is required; cross-context reuse can expose device state, alter device operations, or crash the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-74296
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- 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
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- Affected versionversion=4.16
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <449ae7927152e46acbe5f19f97eafdae6d3a96b1
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <6f83de384ca582fa87b4c2b0d03bd1ed3bf9a2ee
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <80f1f49f53a42733e60c90e0ec545e647969214d
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <aabfc845838ef453f1d22d7665596f9cc48be7dd
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <d3ff718c0c7153e2641e6a09507bace14fc5c402
- Affected versionversion=4ed131d0bb1597ce12fff22d9d7fc9720a6e8cf0 <ef369446f62903ea079e8a7954b5bf8bb8300fe3
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Technologies
Your stack
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