CVE-2026-45861: linux Use After Free

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-45861 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Use After Free vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 5.2% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 27-05-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 19-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: gfs2: Fix slab-use-after-free in qd_put Commit a475c5dd16e5 ("gfs2: Free quota data objects synchronously") started freeing quota data objects during filesystem shutdown instead of putting them back onto the LRU list, but it failed to remove these objects from the LRU list, causing LRU list corruption. This caused use-after-free when the shrinker (gfs2_qd_shrink_scan) tried to access already-freed objects on the LRU list. Fix this by removing qd objects from the LRU list before freeing them in qd_put(). Initial fix from Deepanshu Kartikey <kartikey406@gmail.com>.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.