What is CVE-2026-72288?

CVE-2026-72288 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 4.8 onward and patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72288 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72288?

CVE-2026-72288 has a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, rated Critical severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72288?

Yes, CVE-2026-72288 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 4.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-72288 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72288 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72288

Critical

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: vgic: Handle race between interrupt affinity change and LPI disabling Hyunwoo Kim reports some really bad races should the following situation occur: - LPI-I is pending in vcpu-B's AP list - vcpu-A writes to vcpu-B's RD to disable its LPIs - vcpu-C moves I from B to C If the last two race nicely enough, vgic_prune_ap_list() can drop the irq and AP list locks, reacquire them, and in the interval the irq has been freed. UAF follows. The fix is two-fold: - Before dropping the irq and ap_list locks, take a reference on the irq - Do not try to handle migration of the pending bit: there is no expectation that this state is retained, as per the architecture With that, we're sure that the interrupt is still around, and we safely remove it from the AP list as it has no target at this stage (unless another interrupt fires, but that's another story).

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

9.3

out of 10

Critical

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 4.8 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 4.8

Fixed in

✓ 6.18.40 6.18.x ✓ 7.1.5 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

3 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-72288

Severity Critical

CVSS score 9.3 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-08-15

Modified 2026-08-17

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72288?

CVE-2026-72288 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.8 onward and has been patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72288 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72288?

CVE-2026-72288 has a CVSS score of 9.3 out of 10, rated Critical severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72288?

Yes. CVE-2026-72288 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 4.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-72288 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72288 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.