Linux Kernel up to 7.2-rc2 dm era dm-cache-metadata.c metadata_open md null pointer dereference

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$0-$5k	0.00-

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as very critical has been reported in Linux Kernel up to 7.2-rc2. Affected by this issue is the function metadata_open of the file dm-cache-metadata.c of the component dm era. This manipulation of the argument md causes null pointer dereference. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-72316. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2-rc2 and classified as very critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function metadata_open of the file dm-cache-metadata.c of the component dm era. The manipulation of the argument md with an unknown input leads to a null pointer dereference vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-476. A NULL pointer dereference occurs when the application dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid, but is NULL, typically causing a crash or exit. 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: dm era: fix NULL pointer dereference in metadata_open() metadata_open() returns NULL when kzalloc_obj() fails, but the caller era_ctr() only checks IS_ERR(md). Since IS_ERR(NULL) returns false, the NULL pointer is treated as a valid result and later assigned to era->md, leading to a NULL pointer dereference when the metadata is accessed. Fix this by returning ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) on allocation failure, consistent with dm-cache-metadata.c, dm-thin-metadata.c, and dm-clone-metadata.c which all use ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM) for the same pattern.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-72316 since 08/09/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc3 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch a705e056c2f3dd067fb2ff414f0537530baa090b/bd5a80128bdfc93b1cae935a70da000b8c483e6e/17eb2ab13edd0b06ce6f996c5fd450d7efabb2e8/889374b8e4a60d13fe4a5a8ae3a311ca93d1a2c3/01c49eae7c6256f2d8cc08210a2bac3ee070e43a/14e03ecd3b1b5fc03c082b27a2f8889f8290c30e/b69ea153d30ce19ca8997eeeca1e2219fae5a29b/9ae672606c17891d90b282e3490b817620549599 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.260
• 5.15.211
• 6.1.177
• 6.6.144
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
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• 6.12.90
• 6.12.91
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• 6.12.93
• 6.12.94
• 6.12.95
• 6.12.96
• 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
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• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4
• 7.2-rc1
• 7.2-rc2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Null pointer dereference
CWE: CWE-476 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 5.10.261/5.15.212/6.1.178/6.6.145/6.12.97/6.18.40/7.1.5/7.2-rc3
Patch: a705e056c2f3dd067fb2ff414f0537530baa090b/bd5a80128bdfc93b1cae935a70da000b8c483e6e/17eb2ab13edd0b06ce6f996c5fd450d7efabb2e8/889374b8e4a60d13fe4a5a8ae3a311ca93d1a2c3/01c49eae7c6256f2d8cc08210a2bac3ee070e43a/14e03ecd3b1b5fc03c082b27a2f8889f8290c30e/b69ea153d30ce19ca8997eeeca1e2219fae5a29b/9ae672606c17891d90b282e3490b817620549599

Timelineinfo

08/09/2026 CVE reserved
08/15/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-72316 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-72316
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-390919

Entryinfo

Created: 08/15/2026 16:17
Changes: 08/15/2026 16:17 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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