net/sched: serialize qdisc_rtab_list against concurrent get/put
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 fixed, 3 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: serialize qdisc_rtab_list against concurrent get/put qdisc_get_rtab() and qdisc_put_rtab() mutate the process-global singly linked list qdisc_rtab_list and a plain non-atomic 'int refcnt' with no lock. This was only safe because every caller historically held the RTNL mutex, which serialized all rate-table lookups, inserts and frees. That invariant no longer holds. cls_flower sets TCF_PROTO_OPS_DOIT_UNLOCKED, so tc_new_tfilter() keeps rtnl_held == false for it and sets TCA_ACT_FLAGS_NO_RTNL. That flag propagates through tcf_exts_validate_ex() -> tcf_action_init() -> tcf_action_init_1() -> tcf_police_init(), which calls qdisc_get_rtab()/qdisc_put_rtab() with the RTNL mutex NOT held. Two RTM_NEWTFILTER requests on different CPUs, each adding a flower filter with a police action carrying the same rate, then race on qdisc_rtab_list and on the non-atomic refcnt, leading to a use-after-free / double-free of the kmalloc-2k struct qdisc_rate_table. qdisc_rtab_list is a single global (not per-netns), so the corrupted object is shared system-wide. BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in qdisc_put_rtab+0x12f/0x160 qdisc_put_rtab+0x12f/0x160 tcf_police_init+0xda9/0x1590 tcf_action_init_1+0x460/0x6b0 tcf_action_init+0x439/0xa40 tcf_exts_validate_ex+0x42d/0x550 fl_change+0xddd/0x7da0 tc_new_tfilter+0xaa7/0x2420 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x95e/0xe90 which belongs to the cache kmalloc-2k of size 2048 Protect qdisc_rtab_list and the refcount with a dedicated spinlock. The (sleeping, GFP_KERNEL) allocation in qdisc_get_rtab() is performed before taking the lock; if a concurrent inserter added an identical table in the meantime the freshly allocated one is freed under the lock, so no duplicate is leaked. qdisc_put_rtab() now decrements the refcount and unlinks under the same lock.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.266, 5.15.217, 6.1.184, 6.6.153, 6.12.105, 6.18.46, 7.1.6, 7.2
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2026:89083 Released 2026-10-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) bpftool-4.18.0-553.178.1.el8_10, kernel-4.18.0-553.178.1.el8_10, kernel-abi-stablelists-4.18.0-553.178.1.el8_10 +19
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-tools-libs-devel-4.18.0-553.178.1.el8_10
- RHSA-2026:89082 Released 2026-10-24 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel-rt security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10 +9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10, kernel-rt-core-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10, kernel-rt-debug-4.18.0-553.178.1.rt7.519.el8_10 +7
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:89083 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:89083 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:89082 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) | Fixed | RHSA-2026:89082 |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-68138
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5w39-288f-6m96
- 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-10-20 Weakness changed · CISA ADP
- 2026-10-26 Fix available: RHSA-2026:89083 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-26 Fix available: Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8), Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) · Red Hat
- 2026-10-26 Fix available: RHSA-2026:89082 · Red Hat
- 2026-10-26 Fix available: Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8), Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1b050d09dd1a0ddae83bf012cf4956b7a960235f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e0241f6cbb149d926ee8efee2c734fea71452cf
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f93c89392bd3b180b5b7abc6fdae8e3dd667a313
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4131dd0b6f67acddd616ed7c244e1d3eedd46e7b
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d981098b76756ed71666a27518eeb69883657c43
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8ddc2eb0d2da9c83f54f1e5720525b461b8480c4
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb29e1b41052488ee3f2d115d4a870497ebd7f7d
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f43ee0c0730d6191629b5ee1ceae27b1ebfdc047
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Sources
- CVE-2026-68138 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-68138 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-5w39-288f-6m96 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-68138 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences