What is CVE-2026-72368?

CVE-2026-72368 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.19 onward and patched in 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72368 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72368?

CVE-2026-72368 has a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10, rated High severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72368?

Yes, CVE-2026-72368 has been patched. Fixed versions include 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.19 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-72368 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72368 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72368

High

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: cachefiles: Fix double unlock in nomem_d_alloc error path When start_creating() fails and returns -ENOMEM, it has already released the parent directory lock in __start_dirop(): static struct dentry *__start_dirop(...) { ... inode_lock_nested(dir, I_MUTEX_PARENT); dentry = lookup_one_qstr_excl(name, parent, lookup_flags); if (IS_ERR(dentry)) inode_unlock(dir); <-- Lock released on error return dentry; } However, the nomem_d_alloc error path in cachefiles_get_directory() unconditionally calls inode_unlock(d_inode(dir)) again, causing a double unlock that corrupts the rwsem state. This is a leftover from commit 7ab96df840e60 which replaced manual locking with start_creating() but failed to update the nomem_d_alloc path (while correctly updating mkdir_error and lookup_error paths).

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

7.8

out of 10

High

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

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

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.19 and later are affected. Fixed in 7.1.5, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.19

Fixed in

✓ 7.1.5 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

2 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-72368

Severity High

CVSS score 7.8 / 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-2026-72368?

CVE-2026-72368 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.19 onward and has been patched in 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72368 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72368?

CVE-2026-72368 has a CVSS score of 7.8 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72368?

Yes. CVE-2026-72368 has been patched. Fixed versions include 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.19 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-72368 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72368 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.