Technical impact
In the Linux kernel, the gpio‑virtuser configfs release path had a bug where the device structure was freed before the mutex guard cleanup ran, causing a slab use‑after‑free. The mutex was destroyed and memory freed while still inside the guard scope, so the subsequent mutex_unlock() operated on invalid memory. This flaw could be exploited to gain arbitrary code execution or compromise kernel integrity.
Affected Systems
Linux kernel implementations, specifically the 6.19 release candidates (rc1 through rc7). The vulnerability exists in the standard Linux kernel and affects systems using these kernel versions without the backport or patch applied.
Risk and Exploitability
The CVSS score of 7.8 indicates high severity. The EPSS score is less than 1 %, suggesting a currently low probability of exploitation, though it is not zero. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Likely attack vectors involve local privilege escalation through interaction with the gpio‑virtuser configfs entries, which may be accessible to unprivileged users in some deployments. Once triggered, the use‑after‑free can allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code in kernel mode.
Ubuntu USN