CVE-2026-23014

A use-after-free vulnerability was found in the Linux kernel's perf subsystem. When freeing a software event (swevent), the hrtimer used for sampling may still be active because perf_swevent_cancel_hrtimer() uses hrtimer_try_to_cancel() which can fail if the timer is currently executing. This leaves a dangling reference that can cause a use-after-free when the timer fires after the event structure is freed.

This race condition affects perf software events that use high-resolution timers for sampling. Exploitation requires the ability to create and destroy perf events rapidly, which requires CAP_PERFMON or CAP_SYS_ADMIN capabilities (or perf_event_paranoid sysctl allowing unprivileged access). The impact is a kernel crash or potential memory corruption.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.