Linux Kernel up to 6.18.58/7.2.12 futex mm_release toctou

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.58/7.2.12. The impacted element is the function mm_release of the component futex. The manipulation results in toctou. This vulnerability is identified as CVE-2026-99169. The attack can be executed remotely. There is not any exploit available. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.58/7.2.12. Affected is the function mm_release of the component futex. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a toctou vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-367. The product checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. This can cause the product to perform invalid actions when the resource is in an unexpected state. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: futex: Fix mm reuse handling for FUT_OFF_MMSHARED A FUT_OFF_MMSHARED futex is a shared futex that refers to an MM. It is possible for a process to wait on a shared futex with a different MM because a FUT_OFF_INODE waiter can be requeued onto a FUT_OFF_MMSHARED futex by another process. This can cause FUT_OFF_MMSHARED waiters on a freed MM to consume wakeups intended for a newly allocated MM at the same address. Fix it by keying FUT_OFF_MMSHARED using a unique 64-bit per-MM ID. Leave private futexes as before to avoid influencing the performance of the hotpath. (Multi-threaded processes typically implicitly use FUT_OFF_MMSHARED by setting clear_child_tid such that it points into anonymous memory, which causes mm_release() in a multi-threaded mm to perform FUTEX_WAKE.)

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-99169 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/28/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.18.59 or 7.2.13 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch c17cc2027773e8e4913c5ab0fe3a489b1ed5bf81/2855ddc6844f527e375e78afb55ec2a5182f23b3/3267512ad1c2cc0c7768c5b014dc2cceb398a801 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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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
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 6.18.55
• 6.18.56
• 6.18.57
• 6.18.58
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.2.10
• 7.2.11
• 7.2.12

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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