CVE-2026-72422: ksmbd: fix use-after-free of conn->preauth_info in concurrent SMB2 NEGOTIATE
- Is it exploited?
Not on CISA's list. CISA has not added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as of . If CISA adds it, this page shows it as known exploited.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 0.7%
EPSS score, percentile 53.7 of all scored records. A probability estimated by FIRST, not a report of exploitation.
- How severe?
- 9.8 Critical
CVSS v3.1 base score, given by the CNA
- What should I do?
CISA has set no required action, because the vulnerability is not in KEV.
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
- Which versions are affected?
Affected
- from 5.15.61 to before 5.15.212
- from 5.18.18 to before 5.19
- from 5.19.2 to before 5.20
- 6.0
Unaffected before 6.0; 5.15.212; 6.1.178; 6.6.145; 6.12.97; 6.18.40; and 2 more
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of ; CVE List, as of . About the data.
What to do
Advisories and patches
The CVE record links no vendor advisory, patch or mitigation.
This summary is based on the CVE record as of . Check the vendor's advisory before you act: affected versions and fixes can change.
Affected products and versions
As listed in the CVE record.
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Affected | from dd4e4c811898 to before c7bef84740d1 |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before d0a469122e7b |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before 7470511d085a |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before 16a1ecf39c21 |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before 77bb0bbfcc4e |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before 1c89da3baa2b |
| Affected | from aa7253c2393f to before 0c054227479e |
| Affected | 8a8315a5960b |
| Affected | ff20f1875889 |
| Affected | from 5.15.61 to before 5.15.212 |
| Affected | from 5.18.18 to before 5.19 |
| Affected | from 5.19.2 to before 5.20 |
Versions not listed are: unaffected.
| Status | Versions |
|---|---|
| Affected | 6.0 |
| Unaffected | before 6.0 |
| Unaffected | 5.15.212 |
| Unaffected | 6.1.178 |
| Unaffected | 6.6.145 |
| Unaffected | 6.12.97 |
| Unaffected | 6.18.40 |
| Unaffected | 7.1.5 |
| Unaffected | 7.2 |
Versions not listed are: affected.
Versions the record lists as unaffected: 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2.
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
About this vulnerability
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix use-after-free of conn->preauth_info in concurrent SMB2 NEGOTIATE conn->preauth_info is shared connection state (struct preauth_integrity_info, kmalloc-96) that is allocated and freed by the SMB2 NEGOTIATE handler and read by the response send path. smb2_handle_negotiate() allocates conn->preauth_info, and on a deas…
Summary: CVE record, as of .
- CISA has not added CVE-2026-72422 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, as of 29 Oct 2026.
- The CVE record was published on 15 Aug 2026.
- The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical), given by its CNA.
- FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.7% (percentile 53.7), as of 29 Oct 2026. EPSS is a statistical estimate, not a report of exploitation.
Source: CISA KEV 2026.10.29, as of ; CVE List, as of ; FIRST EPSS, as of . About the data.
Description
ksmbd: fix use-after-free of conn->preauth_info in concurrent SMB2 NEGOTIATE
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix use-after-free of conn->preauth_info in concurrent SMB2 NEGOTIATE conn->preauth_info is shared connection state (struct preauth_integrity_info, kmalloc-96) that is allocated and freed by the SMB2 NEGOTIATE handler and read by the response send path. smb2_handle_negotiate() allocates conn->preauth_info, and on a deassemble_neg_contexts() failure kfrees it and sets it to NULL. Both the allocation and the free/NULL happen under ksmbd_conn_lock(conn) (the connection srv_mutex), which is held across the whole handler body. The response send path smb3_preauth_hash_rsp(), called from the send: block of __handle_ksmbd_work(), reads conn->preauth_info and dereferences conn->preauth_info->Preauth_HashValue (via ksmbd_gen_preauth_integrity_hash()) without taking conn_lock. When a client drives two SMB2 NEGOTIATE requests on the same connection, one worker can free conn->preauth_info on the failing-negotiate path while a concurrent send-path worker is reading it, producing a slab use-after-free read (KASAN-confirmed). The send-path read tested conn->preauth_info for NULL but raced with the free that occurs between the NULL check and the dereference, so the NULL guard alone does not close the window. Serialize the NEGOTIATE-branch read in smb3_preauth_hash_rsp() under ksmbd_conn_lock(conn) and re-check conn->preauth_info inside the lock. Because the negotiate handler holds conn_lock across its kfree + NULL assignment, a reader that also takes conn_lock either runs fully before the allocation or fully after the NULL store, and can never observe the freed-but-not-yet-NULLed pointer. ksmbd_gen_preauth_integrity_hash() takes no locks itself (it only computes a SHA-512 over the buffer), so no lock-ordering inversion is introduced, and conn_lock is a sleepable mutex which is safe on this send path (it already performs network I/O).
Source: CVE List, as of . About the data.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| CVE record published | |
| CVE record last updated |
References
7
Known exploited Linux vulnerabilities
- CVE-2026-46300: Linux Kernel Missing Initialization of a Variable Vulnerability
- CVE-2025-39682: Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Vulnerability
- CVE-2025-39964: Linux Kernel Race Condition Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-53266: Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Vulnerability
- CVE-2026-53362: Linux Kernel Unspecified Vulnerability