New Linux pedit COW Exploit Enables Root Access by Poisoning Cached Binaries
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New Linux pedit COW Exploit Allows Attackers to Gain System Root Access
A newly disclosed Linux kernel vulnerability combining a Copy-on-Write (COW) page-cache corruption flaw with the net/sched subsystem’s act_pedit component is enabling unprivileged local attackers to escalate privileges to full root access on several major Linux distributions. The exploit, dubbed packet_edit_meme, has been verified in June 2026 against actively maintained enterprise and consumer kernels. The root cause is a partial-COW page-cache…
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The Hacker NewsNew Linux pedit COW Exploit Enables Root Access by Poisoning Cached Binaries
Swati KhandelwalJun 26, 2026Linux / Vulnerability A flaw in the Linux kernel’s traffic-control subsystem can let a local unprivileged user gain root on affected systems. CVE-2026-46331, nicknamed “pedit COW,” is an out-of-bounds write in the packet-editing action (act_pedit) that corrupts shared page-cache memory. A public, working exploit appeared within a day of the CVE assignment on June 16. Red Hat rates the flaw as important. The exploit…
A new security failure in the Linux Kernel, nicknamed COW pedit and registered as CVE-2026-46331, ignited an alert between system administrators and security professionals. Vulnerability may allow a local user to get root privileges by exploring an error in the Copy-on-Write (COW) mechanism related to the network traffic control subsystem. Although the attack depends on local code execution, its impact is especially worrying on shared servers, c…
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