Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2 drm drm_gem_handle_create_tail use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2. It has been classified as critical. This vulnerability affects the function drm_gem_handle_create_tail of the component drm. This manipulation causes use after free. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-46215. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.31/7.0.8/7.1-rc2. It has been declared as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function drm_gem_handle_create_tail of the component drm. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm: Set old handle to NULL before prime swap in change_handle There was a potential race condition in change_handle. The ioctl briefly had a single object with two idr entries; a concurrent gem_close could delete the object and remove one of the handles while leaving the other one dangling, which could subsequently be dereferenced for a use-after-free. To fix this, do the same dance that gem_close itself does. (f6cd7daecff5 drm: Release driver references to handle before making it available again) First idr_replace the old handle to NULL. Later, if the prime operations are successful, actually close it. create_tail required a similar dance to avoid a similar problem. (bd46cece51a3 drm/gem: Fix race in drm_gem_handle_create_tail()) It idr_allocs the new handle with NULL, then swaps in the correct object later to avoid races. We don't need to do that here, since the only operations that could race are drm_prime, and change_handle holds the prime lock for the entire duration. v2: cleanups of error paths

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-46215 since 05/13/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 07/24/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 329205 (Oracle Linux 10 : kernel (ELSA-2026-42919)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.32, 7.0.9 or 7.1-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 672464dd53231509c9c771110798c56d4660e19e/61bd96d3e5472c253f9c1ab77608f0c8aaa9d025/5e28b7b94408897e41c63477aabc9e1db439bc8c is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (329205) and EUVD (EUVD-2026-32842). Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 7.0.0
• 7.0.1
• 7.0.2
• 7.0.3
• 7.0.4
• 7.0.5
• 7.0.6
• 7.0.7
• 7.0.8
• 7.1-rc1
• 7.1-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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