CVE-2026-72012

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's tracing/osnoise component. When unregistering a tracer instance, the system failed to call synchronize_rcu(), a mechanism for synchronizing read-copy-update (RCU) operations. This oversight could allow RCU readers to access memory that has already been freed, potentially leading to a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a denial of service or potentially achieve arbitrary code execution.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity for Red Hat Enterprise Linux because exploitation requires local access and the capability to configure kernel tracing instances, limiting the attack surface. A missing synchronization barrier during the teardown of an osnoise tracer instance can cause a race window where active readers reference deallocated memory, potentially resulting in a system crash or kernel memory corruption. Under default security configurations, access to tracing filesystem interfaces requires administrative privileges, which significantly mitigates unauthorized exploitation.

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.