Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2026-46215
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drm: Set old handle to NULL before prime swap in change_handle There was a potential race condition in change_handle. The ioctl briefly had a single object with two idr entries; a concurrent gem_close could delete the object and remove one of the handles while leaving the other one dangling, which could subsequently be dereferenced for a use-after-free. To fix this, do the same dance that gem_close itself does. (f6cd7daecff5 drm: Release driver references to handle before making it available again) First idr_replace the old handle to NULL. Later, if the prime operations are successful, actually close it. create_tail required a similar dance to avoid a similar problem. (bd46cece51a3 drm/gem: Fix race in drm_gem_handle_create_tail()) It idr_allocs the new handle with NULL, then swaps in the correct object later to avoid races. We don't need to do that here, since the only operations that could race are drm_prime, and change_handle holds the prime lock for the entire duration. v2: cleanups of error paths
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysisMemory is used after it has been freed, so its contents — now potentially attacker-controlled — drive the program's behaviour. With careful heap grooming this becomes code execution. The fix requires disciplined ownership of memory and often a targeted rework of the object lifecycle.
General guidance for the use after free class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
>= 6.18, < 6.18.32>= 6.19, < 7.0.9= 7.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped6.18.327.0.9
6.18.32+ (for 6.18.x branch) or 7.0.9+ (for 6.19.x/7.x branch)
- Identify your current kernel version using `uname -r`
- If running 6.18.x series (< 6.18.32): Upgrade to 6.18.32 or later stable release using your distribution's package manager
- If running 6.19.x series (< 7.0.9): Upgrade to 7.0.9 or later stable release
- If running 7.1: Upgrade to 7.0.9 or later (7.2 if available)
- Reboot into the new kernel
- Verify the fix is applied by checking the kernel version matches the fixed releases above
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-46215 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-46215 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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