Linux Kernel up to 6.6.160/6.12.114/6.18.59/7.2.13 io_uring io_req_local_work_add race condition

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.
5.2	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.160/6.12.114/6.18.59/7.2.13. It has been declared as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is the function io_req_local_work_add of the component io_uring. The manipulation results in race condition. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2026-99268. The attack may be launched remotely. There is no exploit available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as problematic has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.160/6.12.114/6.18.59/7.2.13. Affected is the function io_req_local_work_add of the component io_uring. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a race condition vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-362. The product contains a code sequence that can run concurrently with other code, and the code sequence requires temporary, exclusive access to a shared resource, but a timing window exists in which the shared resource can be modified by another code sequence that is operating concurrently. This is going to have an impact on integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: io_uring: wake ring pollers for local task_work With IORING_SETUP_DEFER_TASKRUN completions are queued as local work, and only become CQEs when the submitter enters the kernel to wait for events. For an application that finds out via poll() or epoll on the ring fd when it is time to do that, io_uring_poll() reports EPOLLIN if local work is pending. That only helps if the work is there at the time of the call. When DEFER_TASKRUN was added, io_req_local_work_add() did io_cqring_wake(), which took care of tasks sleeping in poll() as well. Then polling got a wait queue of its own, ->poll_wq, and the wake up in io_req_local_work_add() was replaced by waking the submitter directly. Since then ->poll_wq is only woken when CQEs are committed, which for such a ring is done by the very task that is waiting to be told to: submitter completion poll(ring_fd) io_uring_poll() // nothing yet schedule() io_req_local_work_add() // ->cq_wait_nr: nobody waits // sleeps on Wake ->poll_wq when the first entry is put on the work list. Like for the eventfd, that must not be done right away if the work is queued from a wake up handler, as the chain of wake ups could get back to the wait queue whose lock is held. Use an RCU callback in that case, with a reference to the ring.

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-99268 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 11/03/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.60 or 7.2.14 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 9bb28e7740ce78beecafc5db074b45f4cbeb8a47/d8c618747a6aa90022e19ec614aa7157d0302108/2c88d978f1dfd03edf67924ea8fd25cc45499eef/92bfadcbe0a9a001beb5e58a2abaf040b873deb6 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

• 6.6.160
• 6.12.114
• 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
• 6.18.59
• 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
• 7.2.13

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
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CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.4
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.2

VulDB Base Score: 5.4
VulDB Temp Score: 5.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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

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

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Race condition
CWE: CWE-362
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

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

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.161/6.12.115/6.18.60/7.2.14
Patch: 9bb28e7740ce78beecafc5db074b45f4cbeb8a47/d8c618747a6aa90022e19ec614aa7157d0302108/2c88d978f1dfd03edf67924ea8fd25cc45499eef/92bfadcbe0a9a001beb5e58a2abaf040b873deb6

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
11/03/2026 +39 days Advisory disclosed
11/03/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
11/03/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CNA: Linux
CVE: CVE-2026-99268 (🔒)

GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-99268
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-430254

Entryinfo

Created: 11/03/2026 13:09
Changes: 11/03/2026 13:09 (59)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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