VulnerabilityPublished 22 Aug 2026Updated 25 Aug 2026

CVE-2026-74731: Linux kernel · sched_ext: Skip sub-disable teardown for never-linked sub-schedulers

Source GCVE Database

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 13:47 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 5% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either: the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or remotely (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., tricking a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Aug 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by 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 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-39hf-rf3c-rjqv

What to do

AI-suggested

A fix has been applied in the Linux kernel to skip the teardown steps for sub-schedulers that were never linked, preventing the use-after-free condition. Users should update to the fixed kernel version once available.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sched_ext: Skip sub-disable teardown for never-linked sub-schedulers A sub-scheduler enable can fail before scx_link_sched() links the sched into the hierarchy, e.g. when the parent is already being disabled, and cleanup still runs the full scx_sub_disable(). That is racy against root disable: drain_descendants() is the only ordering between a sub's disable-time task walk and root disable's all-task teardown, and an unlinked sub is invisible to it. Root's teardown can thus run between the never-linked sub's drain and its walk, exiting every task to no scheduler. The walk then trips the membership WARN and re-homes the exited tasks onto the dying hierarchy, a use-after-free. Skip the cgroup ownership reset and the task walk if @sch was never linked, indicated by the empty ->sibling as unlinking only happens later in the same function. The membership WARN remains valid: a linked sub is always waited on by an ancestor's drain.

Impact

This vulnerability can cause kernel instability due to a use-after-free condition in the scheduler subsystem. While no direct exploit in the wild is known, the flaw could lead to system crashes or unpredictable behavior if triggered.

Summary

The vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's scheduler extension (sched_ext) where a sub-scheduler enable operation can fail before the sub-scheduler is linked into the scheduling hierarchy. If the parent scheduler is being disabled concurrently, the cleanup routine still runs the full sub-scheduler disable function (scx_sub_disable). Because the sub-scheduler was never linked, it is invisible to the root disable's task walk ordering, allowing the root teardown to run between the sub-scheduler's drain and task walk. This results in tasks being exited without a scheduler and subsequently re-homed onto a dying hierarchy, causing a use-after-free. The fix involves skipping the cgroup ownership reset and task walk for sub-schedulers that were never linked, preventing the use-after-free while maintaining valid warnings for linked sub-schedulers.

References

Community reviews

Loading reviews…