CVE-2026-72427: Linux

High severity, CVSS 7.8. EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix effective prog array index with BPF_F_PREORDER replace_effective_prog() and purge_effective_progs() located the slot in the effective array by walking the program hlist and counting entries linearly. That count does not match the array layout: compute_effective_ progs() places BPF_F_PREORDER programs at the front (ancestor cgroup first, attach order within a cgroup) and the rest after them (descendant cgroup first). So when a preorder program is present, the linear hlist position no longer equals the program's index in the effective array. For replace_effective_prog() (bpf_link_update()) this overwrote the wrong slot, corrupting the effective order. For purge_effective_progs(), it could dummy out a slot belonging to a different program and leave the detached program in the array while bpf_prog_put() drops its reference, i.e. a use-after-free. Fix both by replaying compute_effective_progs()'s placement (including the per-cgroup preorder reversal) in a shared effective_prog_pos() helper. Identify the entry by its struct bpf_prog_list pointer rather than by (prog, link) value, so the lookup resolves to exactly the attachment the syscall selected even when the same bpf_prog is attached to several cgroups in the hierarchy.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 6.6.93, before 6.6.145 (fixed in 6.6.145); from 6.12.31, before 6.12.97 (fixed in 6.12.97); from 6.14.9, before 6.15 (fixed in 6.15); from 6.15, before 6.18.40 (fixed in 6.18.40); from 6.19, before 7.1.5 (fixed in 7.1.5)

Published 2026-08-15. Last modified 2026-08-17.