# CVE-2026-31481: CVE-2026-31481

Status: published. Published: 2026-04-22. Updated: 2026-11-11.

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.

## Remediation

- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) — https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/250ab25391edeeab8462b68be42e4904506c409c
- fix: The reporting source identifies this reference as a patch. Check the advisory for affected versions and supported release branches. (source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) — https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/771624b7884a83bb9f922ae64ee41a5f8b7576c9

## Affected products and versions

- linux / linux_kernel: ≥ 6.19.1; < 6.19.11 (affected, custom). Source: NVD
- linux / linux_kernel: 6.19 (affected, custom). Source: NVD
- linux / linux_kernel: 7.0 (affected, custom). Source: NVD

## NVD configuration conditions

Affected CPE matches depend on the following AND/OR and negation conditions:

```json
[
  {
    "negate": false,
    "nodes": [
      {
        "cpeMatch": [
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "versionEndExcluding": "6.19.11",
            "versionStartIncluding": "6.19.1",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.19:-:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          },
          {
            "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc7:*:*:*:*:*:*",
            "vulnerable": true
          }
        ],
        "negate": false,
        "operator": "OR"
      }
    ],
    "operator": "OR"
  }
]
```

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 5.5 (medium); CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H; source: NVD: nvd@nist.gov

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: Not available

- Weaknesses: CWE-476

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/250ab25391edeeab8462b68be42e4904506c409c (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67; Patch)

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/771624b7884a83bb9f922ae64ee41a5f8b7576c9 (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67; Patch)

## Provenance

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31481; retrieved 2026-11-12; source updated 2026-11-11

Revision: 5b6a9380e90db9d693ec0e995e97cbc71afdfaab2a6ad7da1de48182c53d2d83

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-31481

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