Guest-to-host compromise via premature ubuf completion
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux vhost-net allows guest OS users to corrupt host kernel memory through zerocopy transmit completion. The vhost_zerocopy_complete() callback treats each cloned skb ubuf release as a finished descriptor, drops the shared reference, and writes vhost state before the final reference. Exploitation requires experimental_zcopytx, cloned zerocopy transmit buffers, and backend teardown; successful reuse enables host crashes or compromise.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux vhost-net allows guest OS users to corrupt host kernel memory through zerocopy transmit completion. The vhost_zerocopy_complete() callback treats each cloned skb ubuf release as a finished descriptor, drops the shared reference, and writes vhost state before the final reference. Exploitation requires experimental_zcopytx, cloned zerocopy transmit buffers, and backend teardown; successful reuse enables host crashes or compromise.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-74310
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-825, T1499.004, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
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?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3.1
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <321c73baf54d971ce3771fea275c98a247f7ee35
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <6445b945024f4c7675ae5352b2d5885cb1deea71
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <8f6898fe80794f2d7c3d38c1158c806e4074a1c4
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <a9f8a1d2e3ff511eafd4c5462481950c2f4d2b5d
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <c069437924663539a93a1e5afe90838d9ccee284
- Affected versionversion=bab632d69ee48a106e779b60cc01adfe80a72807 <ea71f873423fb73e66ad88936d6759ac0ad4aa53
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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