CVE-2026-97903EPSS p1.8%
CVE-2026-97903CVE-2026-97903
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
exit: hold a reference to thread_pid across proc_flush_pid
Commit 0a36bad01731 ("release_task: kill the no longer needed
get/put_pid(thread_pid)") removed the reference around proc_flush_pid().
It assumed that free_pids(post.pids) at the end of release_task() would
keep thread_pid alive until then.
That assumption is wrong. __change_pid() only records a detached PID in
post.pids when pid_has_task() is false for every PIDTYPE. If another task
still uses the exiting task's PID as its process group or session ID,
__unhash_process() removes the exiting task's PIDTYPE_PID link but leaves
the PID out of post.pids. release_task() therefore holds no reference to
it after dropping tasklist_lock.
The other task can then remove the remaining PIDTYPE links. Its
free_pids() call schedules delayed_put_pid(), and the RCU callback can free
the PID before the first release_task() reaches proc_flush_pid().
An unprivileged repro
Scoring
| CVSS | 7.8 () |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| EPSS | 0.12% probability of exploitation · percentile 1.8% · 2026-10-05T12:00:23Z |
| Last modified | 2026-09-25 |