CVE-2026-74514

Host resource exhaustion via leaked accounting references

Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026

Resource-accounting error in affected Linux kernel releases starting with 6.0 allows local users to exhaust host resources through s390 KVM PCI operations. The account_mem() and unaccount_mem() paths repeatedly acquire user_struct references without free_uid(), and unaccount_mem() can charge a different current mm than the pinning process. Reachability requires local low-privileged access to an s390 host using KVM PCI page pinning; the documented consequence is host availability loss.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.17%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource-accounting error in affected Linux kernel releases starting with 6.0 allows local users to exhaust host resources through s390 KVM PCI operations. The account_mem() and unaccount_mem() paths repeatedly acquire user_struct references without free_uid(), and unaccount_mem() can charge a different current mm than the pinning process. Reachability requires local low-privileged access to an s390 host using KVM PCI page pinning; the documented consequence is host availability loss.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-74514
Published
Aug 15, 2026
Updated
Aug 15, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-911, CWE-674
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <36f6999ecde3976731a8bfc0b8e667da6f593069
  2. Affected versionversion=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <70871b121f81d08879363cb1238a4c85c5c2800c
  3. Affected versionversion=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <e3f732e086e438c52c7400bd2734bb166aa4752c
  4. Affected versionversion=6.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <36f6999ecde3976731a8bfc0b8e667da6f593069; version=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <70871b121f81d08879363cb1238a4c85c5c2800c; version=3c5a1b6f0a18520a0edd0600fef6f1a8553b8fdc <e3f732e086e438c52c7400bd2734bb166aa4752c; version=6.0

Published CVSS scores

5.5NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-911Improper Update of Reference Count
CWE-674Uncontrolled Recursion

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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