Is CVE-2026-46173 being actively exploited?

It is not currently in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploitation probability is 0%.

What products does CVE-2026-46173 affect?

Tracked products affected include Linux Kernel. Check the version you run to see whether it is affected.

How do I fix CVE-2026-46173?

Apply the vendor fix promptly. An official patch or advisory is available. Upgrade affected products to a fixed version.

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CVE-2026-46173

Q: What is CVE-2026-46173?

CVE-2026-46173 is a high-severity software vulnerability (Out-of-bounds write) with a CVSS score of 7.8. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: exit: prevent preemption of oopsing TASK_DEAD task When an already-exiting task oopses, make_task_dead() currently calls do_task_dead() with preemption enabled. That is

HIGH severity · CVSS 7.8 · Out-of-bounds write

7.8CVSS HIGH

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: exit: prevent preemption of oopsing TASK_DEAD task When an already-exiting task oopses, make_task_dead() currently calls do_task_dead() with preemption enabled. That is forbidden: do_task_dead() calls __schedule(), which has a comment saying "WARNING: must be called with preemption disabled!". If an oopsing task is preempted in do_task_dead(), between becoming TASK_DEAD and entering the scheduler explicitly, bad things happen: finish_task_switch() assumes that once the scheduler has switched away from a TASK_DEAD task, the task can never run again and its stack is no longer needed; but that assumption apparently doesn't hold if the dead task was preempted (the SM_PREEMPT case). This means that the scheduler ends up repeatedly dropping references on the dead task's stack, which can lead to use-after-free or double-free of the entire task stack; in other words, two tasks can end up running on the same stack, resulting in various kinds of memory corruption. (This does not just affect "recursively oopsing" tasks; it is enough to oops once during task exit, for example in a file_operations::release handler)

Impact & exploitability

Attack vectorLocal

Attack complexityLow

Privileges requiredLow

User interactionNone

Confidentiality impactHigh

Integrity impactHigh

Availability impactHigh

Exploit probability (EPSS)0%

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

Affected products we track (1)

Linux Kernel

Recommendation

Apply the vendor fix promptly. Open any affected product above for its exact safe version.

Official patch: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3d6fb8a7690c23e3213c4b008f64d89a44b98737 ↗

CVE-2026-46173

Summary

Impact & exploitability

Affected products we track (1)

Recommendation

Additional information