CVE-2026-98512

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Nouveau graphics driver. When destroying a GPU scheduler object, the driver frees memory prematurely while user-space synchronization objects still hold references to it. A local, unprivileged user could exploit this flaw by querying synchronization file information to trigger a use-after-free read, potentially leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS) or information disclosure.

This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation is restricted to local unprivileged users on systems actively utilizing the open-source Nouveau graphics driver for NVIDIA GPUs. While a local attacker can trigger a kernel crash resulting in a denial of service by querying synchronization file handles after scheduler destruction, it does not permit remote access or arbitrary code execution. Systems lacking NVIDIA display hardware or enterprise installations running alternative display drivers are unaffected.

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.