Medium [CVE-2026-74720] Preserve pointer state for commuted arithmetic
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-74720 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Preserve pointer state for commuted arithmetic When scalar += pointer is handled in adjust_ptr_min_max_vals(), the destination register inherits the pointer state from the source pointer.
Copying only selected fields is fragile because pointer provenance is tracked by several bpf_reg_state fields. Use the caller's temporary offset register to preserve the scalar operand while replacing the destination with the full pointer state.
This preserves the frame number for PTR_TO_STACK registers and keeps parent identity fields consistent. A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) component.
When a scalar value is added to a pointer during certain arithmetic operations, the system fails to fully preserve the pointer's state. This inconsistency in how the pointer's origin and properties are tracked can lead to memory corruption or information disclosure.
An attacker could potentially leverage this to impact system stability or gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-823. Affected Red Hat products: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 36 minutes ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 36 minutes ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 36 minutes ago·verify at source
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