CVE-2026-72237
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/amd/brs: Fix kernel address leakage A user-only branch stack can contain branches that originate from the kernel. As a result, kernel addresses are exposed to user space even when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested. On AMD processors supporting X86_FEATURE_BRS (Zen 3 only), perf can still report entries such as SYSRET/interrupt returns for which the branch-from addresses are in the kernel. E.g. $ perf record -j any,u -c 4000 -e branch-brs -o - -- \ perf bench syscall basic --loop 1000 | \ perf script -i - -F brstack|tr ' ' '\n'| \ grep -E '0x[89a-f][0-9a-f]{15}' ... 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2e32955eb/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94a9821/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94ffa1b/-/-/-/0//- ... BRS provides no hardware branch filtering, so privilege level filtering is performed entirely in software. However, amd_brs_match_plm() only validates the branch-to address against the requested privilege levels. For branches from the kernel to user space, the branch-from address is left unchecked and is leaked. Extend the software filter to also validate the branch-from address, so that any branch record whose branch-from address is in the kernel is dropped when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.19
and later are affected. Fixed in
6.6.145,
6.12.97,
6.18.40,
7.1.5,
7.2-rc3
and their respective stable series.
References
5 totalFrequently asked questions
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What is CVE-2026-72237?
CVE-2026-72237 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.19 onward and has been patched in 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40 and others. CVE-2026-72237 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
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Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72237?
Yes. CVE-2026-72237 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.19 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
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Is CVE-2026-72237 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-72237 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.