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TI-2026-55681 Aliases CVE-2026-80668GHSA-fpgw-998r-pg47

netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: use conntrack GC to reap expectations

Priority MEDIUM 50Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 5 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: netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: use conntrack GC to reap expectations This patch replaces the timer API by GC worker approach for expectations, as it already happened in many other subsystems. Use the existing conntrack GC worker to iterate over the local list of expectations in the master conntrack to reap expired expectations. Check IPS_HELPER_BIT to run GC for expectations, set it on for nft_ct expectation which nevers sets it. Hold the expectation spinlock while iterating over the master conntrack expectation list to synchronize with nf_ct_remove_expectations(). This also performs runtime packet path garbage collection through the expectation insertion and lookup functions while walking over one of the chains of the global expectation hashtables. Unconfirmed conntrack entries are skipped since ct->ext can be reallocated and dying are skipped since those will be gone soon. Set on IPS_HELPER_BIT if the helper ct extension is added, then the new GC worker does not need to bump the ct refcount to check if the ct->ext helper is available. This removes the extra bump on the refcount for expectation timers, this allows to remove several nf_ct_expect_put() calls after the unlink, after this update only refcount remains at 1 while on the expectation hashes. This patch implicitly addresses a race with the existing timer API allowing an expectation to access a stale exp->master pointer which has been already released when expectation removal loses races with an expiring timer, ie. timer_del() reporting false. Add a new NF_CT_EXPECT_DEAD flag to reap this expectation via GC. This is needed by nf_conntrack_unexpect_related() which is called in error paths to invalidate newly created expectations that has been added into the hashes. These expectactions cannot be inmediately released as GC or nf_ct_remove_expectations() could race to make it. On expectation insert, the runtime GC reaps stale expectations before checking the expectation limit set by policy. Set current timestamp in nf_ct_expect_alloc(), then add the expectation policy timeout (or custom timeout specified added on top of this) to specify the expectation lifetime.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.006 48th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114 +4Red Hat: 5 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux6.1.176 to before 6.1.191; 6.6.143 to before 6.6.160; 6.12.94 to before 6.12.114; 6.18.24 to before 6.18.61; 6.19.14 to before 6.206.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 6.20Patch availableCNA
LinuxLinux7.0 and later6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 7.1.5, 7.2Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 6.1.176 to before 6.1.191; 6.6.143 to before 6.6.160; 6.12.94 to before 6.12.114; 6.18.24 to before 6.18.61; 6.19.14 to before 6.20 Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 6.20 Patch available CNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 7.0 and later Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 7.1.5, 7.2 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 6.20
  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.1.191, 6.6.160, 6.12.114, 6.18.61, 7.1.5, 7.2

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix yet
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-80668
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-fpgw-998r-pg47
  3. 2026-10-18 CISA SSVC decision points changed
  4. 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/Linux@02f7809a19fc88cfd9bc113a4bfe7add6305db39, Linux/Linux@3d7b808ec35291ee75dcdb2b6fe5f587bfe9b1df, Linux/[email protected] +1 · CNA
  5. 2026-10-21 2 new references · CNA
  6. 2026-10-23 EPSS moved to the 50th–90th percentile
  7. 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@61ca26e1a45965590f7e477c4d6f711162642e1c · CNA
  8. 2026-10-30 1 new reference · CNA
  9. 2026-11-04 EPSS moved to the below the 50th percentile
  10. 2026-11-06 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@bc6b1da681abe631ed21b7fdced48546189d64a4 · CNA
  11. 2026-11-06 1 new reference · CNA

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
See all 21741 →

Sources