CVE-2026-72237
perf/x86/amd/brs: Fix kernel address leakage
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/amd/brs: Fix kernel address leakage A user-only branch stack can contain branches that originate from the kernel. As a result, kernel addresses are exposed to user space even when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested. On AMD processors supporting X86_FEATURE_BRS (Zen 3 only), perf can still report entries such as SYSRET/interrupt returns for which the branch-from addresses are in the kernel. E.g. $ perf record -j any,u -c 4000 -e branch-brs -o - -- \ perf bench syscall basic --loop 1000 | \ perf script -i - -F brstack|tr ' ' '\n'| \ grep -E '0x[89a-f][0-9a-f]{15}' ... 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2e32955eb/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94a9821/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94ffa1b/-/-/-/0//- ... BRS provides no hardware branch filtering, so privilege level filtering is performed entirely in software. However, amd_brs_match_plm() only validates the branch-to address against the requested privilege levels. For branches from the kernel to user space, the branch-from address is left unchecked and is leaked. Extend the software filter to also validate the branch-from address, so that any branch record whose branch-from address is in the kernel is dropped when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 15, 2026, 6:21 a.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 17, 2026, 6:18 a.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Solution
- Update the Linux kernel to include the fix.
- Ensure software filters validate the branch-from address.
- Apply privilege level filtering to all branch records.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-72237.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72237 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-72237
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-72237 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-72237 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Aug. 17, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Changed Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': 'ac44b4a3d6137489f8fa2e794b12e849c6b22eaa', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '90843d00dbc61220b66408ea0d8775cae9e51f70', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '046f6244da9b68e463a849b21446b9424e531491', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '2e706be56f418718bb3ae66c0aa94f9b61150e6d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '47915e855fb38b42133e31ba917d99565f862154', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': 'ac44b4a3d6137489f8fa2e794b12e849c6b22eaa', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '90843d00dbc61220b66408ea0d8775cae9e51f70', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '046f6244da9b68e463a849b21446b9424e531491', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '2e706be56f418718bb3ae66c0aa94f9b61150e6d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '47915e855fb38b42133e31ba917d99565f862154', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] -
New CVE Received by 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
Aug. 15, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': 'ac44b4a3d6137489f8fa2e794b12e849c6b22eaa', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '90843d00dbc61220b66408ea0d8775cae9e51f70', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '046f6244da9b68e463a849b21446b9424e531491', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '2e706be56f418718bb3ae66c0aa94f9b61150e6d', 'versionType': 'git'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '8910075d61a37e5b0d82e6c83ed9a0a31fe9ea08', 'lessThan': '47915e855fb38b42133e31ba917d99565f862154', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}, {'repo': 'https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git', 'vendor': 'Linux', 'product': 'Linux', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '5.19'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '5.19', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.6.145', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.6.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.12.97', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.12.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '6.18.40', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '6.18.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.1.5', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '7.1.*'}, {'status': 'unaffected', 'version': '7.2-rc3', 'versionType': 'original_commit_for_fix', 'lessThanOrEqual': '*'}], 'programFiles': ['arch/x86/events/amd/brs.c'], 'defaultStatus': 'affected'}] Added Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/amd/brs: Fix kernel address leakage A user-only branch stack can contain branches that originate from the kernel. As a result, kernel addresses are exposed to user space even when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested. On AMD processors supporting X86_FEATURE_BRS (Zen 3 only), perf can still report entries such as SYSRET/interrupt returns for which the branch-from addresses are in the kernel. E.g. $ perf record -j any,u -c 4000 -e branch-brs -o - -- \ perf bench syscall basic --loop 1000 | \ perf script -i - -F brstack|tr ' ' '\n'| \ grep -E '0x[89a-f][0-9a-f]{15}' ... 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2e32955eb/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94a9821/-/-/-/0//- 0xffffffff810001c4/0x72e2d94ffa1b/-/-/-/0//- ... BRS provides no hardware branch filtering, so privilege level filtering is performed entirely in software. However, amd_brs_match_plm() only validates the branch-to address against the requested privilege levels. For branches from the kernel to user space, the branch-from address is left unchecked and is leaked. Extend the software filter to also validate the branch-from address, so that any branch record whose branch-from address is in the kernel is dropped when PERF_SAMPLE_BRANCH_USER is requested. Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/046f6244da9b68e463a849b21446b9424e531491 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2e706be56f418718bb3ae66c0aa94f9b61150e6d Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/47915e855fb38b42133e31ba917d99565f862154 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/90843d00dbc61220b66408ea0d8775cae9e51f70 Added Reference https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac44b4a3d6137489f8fa2e794b12e849c6b22eaa