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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-31481: Linux kernel · tracing: Drain deferred trigger frees if kthread creation fails

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited.

Data as of 12 Nov 2026, 03:35 UTC

Severity
High

Rated High by Threat Radar's AI analysis · No CVSS score from NVD or the CNA

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 22 Apr 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponized: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq Mirage: no evidence on record.

    No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 11 Nov 2026.

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been implemented in the Linux kernel to drain the deferred trigger free list synchronously if kthread creation fails, preventing memory leaks and kernel crashes. Users should update to the fixed kernel versions once available. Since this is a kernel-level issue, applying the official kernel patch or upgrading to a fixed kernel release is the recommended remediation.

Description

A vulnerability in the Linux kernel tracing subsystem can cause a NULL pointer dereference and kernel crash if kernel thread (kthread) creation fails during boot-time trigger registration. This occurs because deferred trigger frees are not properly drained, leading to memory leaks and eventual crash when the deferred list is accessed.

References

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