Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-31493 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 3th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-31493 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the Linux kernel's RDMA/efa driver. The flaw arises during admin queue completion handling: if an admin command completes with an error, the code prints data from the completion context after it has already been freed by the polling or interrupts handler. This results in accessing the context in an unknown state, as it may have been reused for another operation. The vulnerability was published on 2026-04-22 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8.
A local attacker with low privileges (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U) can exploit this vulnerability to achieve high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H). Exploitation involves triggering the faulty admin queue completion path in the RDMA/efa driver, potentially leading to memory corruption, arbitrary code execution, or denial of service.
Mitigation is available through kernel patches merged into stable trees, as detailed in the following commit references: https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0dd98aea1c0c45987fa2dd92f988b0eb1a72c125, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1cf95fe5dc5471efea947b4c6f8913da6bc7976e, and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ef3b06742c8a201d0e83edc9a33a89a4fe3009f8. These changes symmetrize the allocation and deallocation of the completion context, ensuring it is only freed after any potential use. Security practitioners should update affected Linux kernels promptly.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-24863
Vulnerability Data
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: RDMA/efa: Fix use of completion ctx after free On admin queue completion handling, if the admin command completed with error we print data from the completion context. The issue is…
more
that we already freed the completion context in polling/interrupts handler which means we print data from context in an unknown state (it might be already used again). Change the admin submission flow so alloc/dealloc of the context will be symmetric and dealloc will be called after any potential use of the context.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
V1.4.3
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover use-after-free bugs through dynamic analysis or fuzzing.
Engineering principles can require memory-safe constructs or languages that structurally avoid introducing use-after-free.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of use-after-free memory corruption to a single execution domain.
Memory protection controls limit exploitation impact by blocking unauthorized code execution from dangling pointers.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.
Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.
Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.
Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.
Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.
Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.
Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.
Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
- V-257794 RHEL 9 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-416