Use-after-free in Linux kernel act_ct conntrack handling
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 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel act_ct action in net/sched is affected from 6.2 until the fixed releases. When a packet with an unconfirmed conntrack entry is cloned, both clones can modify the shared entry, which leaves a pointer in the expectation list broken and causes a use-after-free on later destruction. A local user with low privileges can exploit this to affect confidentiality, integrity and availability.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_ct: avoid modifying shared unconfirmed ct entry In a case where skb with an unconfirmed ct entry gets cloned, we may end up processing both again but with different sets of extensions. The series of events: 1. The first clone wants to commit and runs the helpers wiring up the extension pointer into the expectation list. 2. Then it looses the confirmation keeping the entry unconfirmed. 3. Second clone now wants to commit labels or run NAT and adds the new extension for that breaking the pointer in the expectation list causing UAF on the destruction path later. While this is possible to trigger, there should be no practical network pipeline where we need to process both clones without modifications in the same zone. So, let's just reset the entry in case for some reason we got an skb with a shared one. This doesn't affect any known use cases, but avoids any potential problems with sharing and modification of the unconfirmed ct entry. Unlike openvswitch module, act_ct allows for NAT without commit. Changing that would be a uAPI break. So, act_ct needs to reset on NAT regardless of the commit flag to avoid reallocation of the extension space. This, however, doesn't really change the picture for sensible networking cases as there should be no need to run the same packet twice (before and after the clone) through conntrack without packet header or zone changes and without commit. The fixes tag points to the introduction of helpers, since that's the main UAF trigger for the sharing.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to 6.6.160, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3, depending on the stable branch in use. Red Hat reports no fix available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.6.160, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 4 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98441
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-vvgr-4jx9-2c4x
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-20 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-20 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@c812bb4aea13d385d048b5b24756aee2edf6f99e · CNA
- 2026-10-21 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-24 CVSS score added · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 5
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c812bb4aea13d385d048b5b24756aee2edf6f99e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2b783c562c3238ff50c34fd7a72a735c9cc73d9a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4a04ed91575819fb1859311113e95700b709bec7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b097d9d7a5b09c8ec5c4c1a08e35ac5a66b06b44
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f85009dfcd65e5969526b0db7a49b5413746e630
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98441 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98441 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-vvgr-4jx9-2c4x · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98441 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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