CVE-2026-80778

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A race condition exists in the futex/pi (Fast Userspace Mutexes / Priority Inheritance) subsystem. When a private futex key borrows a waiter's memory management (mm) structure without proper referencing, the attach_to_pi_owner() function can accept an owner from a different address space. This can lead to a situation where the futex hash is freed while still being used by an owner, potentially causing a use-after-free vulnerability. A local attacker could exploit this to cause a denial of service or system instability.

This vulnerability is rated as an Important impact because exploiting the underlying memory corruption can allow an authenticated local user to compromise kernel integrity or induce a kernel crash, despite requiring specific timing conditions to trigger. Standard Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments expose the futex system call interface to unprivileged local accounts, providing access to priority inheritance routines without requiring specialized privileges. However, the flaw cannot be triggered remotely and requires local execution.

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.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.