Kernel memory corruption via unlocked page-table promotion
Published Aug 22, 2026 · Updated Aug 22, 2026
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to corrupt kernel memory by racing ptdump with huge vmap promotion. vmap_try_huge_*() frees a lower-level page table without holding init_mm's mmap lock, so a concurrent ptdump walker can dereference that freed table. Reaching the race requires local access and concurrent ptdump and huge-page-table promotion; the documented result is kernel memory corruption.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in affected Linux kernel releases allows local users to corrupt kernel memory by racing ptdump with huge vmap promotion. vmap_try_huge_*() frees a lower-level page table without holding init_mm's mmap lock, so a concurrent ptdump walker can dereference that freed table. Reaching the race requires local access and concurrent ptdump and huge-page-table promotion; the documented result is kernel memory corruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-74672
- Published
- Aug 22, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 22, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-825, T1068
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 22, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 22, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0454e2fad9306961540ee7e84da47a8e345b7d22
- Affected versionversion=31895cfd79564111cdd5a9f48c5d491ae26a238e
- Affected versionversion=4.14.31 <4.15
- Affected versionversion=4.15.14 <4.16
- Affected versionversion=4.16
- Affected versionversion=4.4.125 <4.5
- Affected versionversion=4.9.91 <4.10
- Affected versionversion=9c7f7bdb1932f8c1e5f80d32c717184701afe701
- Affected versionversion=acdb4981644c8e31ccee294bdefff475c0cf587b
- Affected versionversion=b6bdb7517c3d3f41f20e5c2948d6bc3f8897394e <26444eb71465c9934d9d418ef69c43f61185329b
- Affected versionversion=b6bdb7517c3d3f41f20e5c2948d6bc3f8897394e <3cc26c8907db0f5d1ff8043b5851ee572e9b3c98
- Affected versionversion=b6bdb7517c3d3f41f20e5c2948d6bc3f8897394e <c5bf8cd148cfea948cfa3db71da427294b20db0f
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
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
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
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo