CVE-2026-31589

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's memory management. This vulnerability, known as a use-after-free, occurs when the system attempts to access a memory region after it has been released. Specifically, during the unmapping and invalidation of a memory page (folio), the system can incorrectly access a freed mapping structure. This can lead to memory corruption, potentially allowing an attacker to cause system instability or execute unauthorized code.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because exploitation requires local system access with authenticated user privileges to trigger the race condition in the kernel memory subsystem, primarily resulting in a denial of service. While memory corruption during page cache invalidation can cause kernel instability, achieving reliable arbitrary code execution presents substantial technical complexity for a local unprivileged attacker. Standard Red Hat kernel deployments expose core memory management routines to all local users, but the vulnerable operations cannot be triggered remotely over the network.

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.