CVE-2026-72390
CVE-2026-72390 is a security vulnerability in Kernel. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-72390 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
net/sched: sch_teql: Introduce slaves_lock to avoid race condition and UAF
Real-World Exposure
KernelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Linux packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: sch_teql: Introduce slaves_lock to avoid race condition and UAF
The teql master->slaves singly linked list is not protected against multiple writes. It can be mod'ed concurently from teql_master_xmit(), teql_dequeue(), teql_init() and teql_destroy() without holding any list lock or RCU protection.
[email protected] has demonstrated that the qdisc is freed after an RCU grace period, but teql_master_xmit() running on another CPU can still hold a stale pointer into the list, resulting in a slab-use-after-free:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in teql_master_xmit+0xf0f/0x16b0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff888013fb0440 by task poc/332 Freed 512-byte region [ffff888013fb0400, ffff888013fb0600) (kmalloc-512)
The fix? Add a per-master slaves_lock spinlock that serializes all mutations of master->slaves and the NEXT_SLAVE() links in teql_destroy() and teql_qdisc_init(). teql_master_xmit() also takes the same slaves_lock around those updates. Annotate master->slaves and the per-slave ->next pointer with __rcu and use the appropriate RCU accessors everywhere they are touched: rcu_assign_pointer() on the writer side (under slaves_lock), rcu_dereference_protected() for the writer-side loads (also under slaves_lock), rcu_dereference_bh() for the loads in teql_master_xmit() and rtnl_dereference() for the loads in teql_master_open()/teql_master_mtu(), which run under RTNL. Pair this with rcu_read_lock_bh()/rcu_read_unlock_bh() around the list traversal in teql_master_xmit(), so that readers either observe a fully linked list or are deferred until the in-flight mutation completes. The two early-return paths in teql_master_xmit() are updated to release the RCU-bh read-side critical section before returning, since leaving it held would disable BH on that CPU for good.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐧Linux | Kernel | ≥ 2.6.12&&< 6.1.178 | 6.1.178 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Kernel. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update Kernel to 6.1.178 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-72390 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-72390 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-72390. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-72390 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-72390 across Linux dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.