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TI-2026-68175 Aliases CVE-2026-98284GHSA-x7q6-9x5c-r9x7

Use-after-free in Linux kernel netlink group bitmap access

Priority LOW 22Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
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Privileges required
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User interaction
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Attack complexity
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Impact type
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Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix

No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

The Linux kernel from 4.0 is affected until fixed in 7.2.8 and 7.3. The netlink code reallocates a socket group bitmap with krealloc while lockless readers in sk_diag_dump_groups and /proc/net/netlink may still use it, so the old buffer can be freed under them. Readers can then read freed memory or read past the end of a smaller buffer.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

Description from the CNA

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it netlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab(). Whenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old bitmap is freed immediately. Two readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink table lock: 1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU. Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock. 2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 ("netlink: Lockless lookup with RCU grace period in socket release"). Both can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read past the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old @groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the result into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute. This is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee ("netlink: access nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname") fixed for bind() and getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table lock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also called with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the dump. Make the lockless readers safe instead: - Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period, instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc(). - Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap. netlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and setsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table has been released.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00155 4th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 7.2.8, 7.3Red Hat: 7 without a fix

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux4.0 and later7.2.8, 7.3Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.0 and later Fixed in 7.2.8, 7.3 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

Fixed versions for the Linux kernel are 7.2.8 and 7.3. Red Hat lists no fix planned for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and no fix available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 7.2.8, 7.3

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: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-06 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98284
  2. 2026-10-06 Alias added: GHSA-x7q6-9x5c-r9x7
  3. 2026-10-11 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  4. 2026-10-11 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  5. 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
  6. 2026-10-22 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  7. 2026-10-22 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
  8. 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat

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