KernelScan.io

HIGH

ptrace Dumpable Bypass

CVE-2026-46333

CVSS 7.1 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

KernelScan AI7.8HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ptrace: slightly saner 'get_dumpable()' logic The 'dumpability' of a task is fundamentally about the memory image of the task - the concept comes from whether it can core dump or not - and makes no sense when you don't have an associated mm. And almost all users do in fact use it only for the case where the task has a mm pointer. But we have one odd special case: ptrace_may_access() uses 'dumpable' to check various other things entirely independently of the MM (typically explicitly using flags like PTRACE_MODE_READ_FSCREDS). Including for threads that no longer have a VM (and maybe never did, like most kernel threads). It's not what this flag was designed for, but it is what it is. The ptrace code does check that the uid/gid matches, so you do have to be uid-0 to see kernel thread details, but this means that the traditional "drop capabilities" model doesn't make any difference for this all. Make it all make a *bit* more sense by saying that if you don't have a MM pointer, we'll use a cached "last dumpability" flag if the thread ever had a MM (it will be zero for kernel threads since it is never set), and require a proper CAP_SYS_PTRACE capability to override.

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

Local attackers with matching uid/gid can bypass capability checks to ptrace kernel threads and exiting processes. This allows reading and modifying kernel thread memory without requiring CAP_SYS_PTRACE, potentially leading to privilege escalation or system compromise.

Affectedkernel/ptrace.c (ptrace subsystem)

Vulnerability analysis

The ptrace_may_access() function incorrectly handled dumpability checks for tasks without memory management structures (mm). When a process exits or for kernel threads, the dumpability check was effectively skipped, allowing ptrace access based only on uid/gid matching rather than proper capability checks. The fix introduces a cached user_dumpable flag that preserves the last dumpability state and ensures CAP_SYS_PTRACE is required to override dumpability restrictions, closing the privilege escalation path.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
3.173.1793d4ba49d18e
4.104.108f907d345bae
4.54.515b828a46f30
4.94.94709234fd1b9
5.105.10.2566e5b51e74a40
5.155.15.2072a93a4fac7b6
6.16.1.17301363cb3fbd0
6.126.12.89
6.186.18.31
6.66.6.13931e62c2ebbfd
7.07.0.8
mainline7.1-rc4