Unspecified impact via policy-load audit use-after-free
Published Oct 18, 2026 · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Use-after-free in Linux IPE allows local users to cause unspecified impact via concurrent policy loading and deletion. The new_policy() function releases the published policy directory's inode lock before ipe_audit_policy_load() finishes, allowing deletion to free the policy being audited. Reaching the race requires IPE, a trusted signed policy, and policy-management access through securityfs; the published evidence does not establish a crash, disclosure, or privilege escalation.
Summary
What happened
Use-after-free in Linux IPE allows local users to cause unspecified impact via concurrent policy loading and deletion. The new_policy() function releases the published policy directory's inode lock before ipe_audit_policy_load() finishes, allowing deletion to free the policy being audited. Reaching the race requires IPE, a trusted signed policy, and policy-management access through securityfs; the published evidence does not establish a crash, disclosure, or privilege escalation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98534
- Published
- Oct 18, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 18, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 18, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 18, 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=6.12
- Affected versionversion=f44554b5067b36c14cc91ed811fa1bd58baed34a <48f7d0233c3cc8d986d1177d0e5dd4af435e7265
- Affected versionversion=f44554b5067b36c14cc91ed811fa1bd58baed34a <9814077275eca36ebf8d510d2f076d235ff9f51a
- Affected versionversion=f44554b5067b36c14cc91ed811fa1bd58baed34a <b72d6c72b4bfbc021e8e127fa13e0f27d09be737
- Affected versionversion=f44554b5067b36c14cc91ed811fa1bd58baed34a <e9015d32752fa228ef2f0e07fd93fc53a4a4c723
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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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.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
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Technologies
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