Integer overflow in Linux kernel sockmap map freeing
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: 5 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel from 5.11 is affected. The sockmap allocation accepts a max_entries value above INT_MAX, and sock_map_free() then walks the array with a signed integer that overflows, causing an out-of-bounds write when the map is freed. On a KASAN kernel this crashes with a page fault, and without KASAN the write can corrupt unrelated memory.
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: bpf, sockmap: Reject max_entries > INT_MAX in sock_map_alloc sock_map_alloc() only rejects max_entries == 0 and otherwise allows any u32 value. sock_map_free() then walks the sks[] array with a signed int iterator: int i; for (i = 0; i < stab->map.max_entries; i++) struct sock **psk = &stab->sks[i]; When a SOCKMAP is created with max_entries = 0xffffffff (UINT_MAX), the allocation of 32 GiB can succeed on large-memory hosts. During free the counter reaches 0x80000000, wraps to INT_MIN, is sign-extended by movslq and turned into a ~16 GiB negative offset from stab->sks, pointing far below the allocation. The faulting access is an xchg() write in sock_map_free(). Without KASAN, the same out-of-bounds write can fault on an unmapped vmalloc page or corrupt an unrelated allocation if that vmalloc address is populated. On a KASAN kernel with CONFIG_KASAN_VMALLOC=y, the shadow check for that address hits an unmapped shadow page and oopses first: BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffff521b59c5a00 RIP: 0010:kasan_check_range+0x107/0x190 Call Trace: sock_map_free+0x93/0x190 map_create+0x68d/0xb30 __sys_bpf+0x21e/0x2e70 Vmcore confirmed stab->map.max_entries == 0xffffffff, stab->sks == 0xffffc911ace2d000, and the faulting address sks + (s64)INT_MIN * 8 exactly at 0xffffc90dace2d000. The same buggy path is reached on the normal close()/bpf_map_free_deferred() path whenever such a map is destroyed. sock_map_alloc() used to bound its allocation size through bpf_map_charge_init(), but the bound was dropped when rlimit-based memory accounting was removed. Reject max_entries > INT_MAX at creation time so the signed iterator in sock_map_free() never sees a value that would overflow. Triggered by syzkaller and reproduced on both a 6.6-based KASAN kernel and the upstream v7.3-rc2 kernel.
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 a fixed stable release: 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3, or to a kernel that includes the upstream fix commits. The sources list no fixed version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 or for Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-10-30
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 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 8 | 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: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98588
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-v3gv-6qr6-4mh5
- 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
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f4a73f49e256bd835368504462be3b57b03febff
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c56191af3a578b9cc265fa3bd5fc0752c59c1781
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/909f761868fda329dc69130ef9eb5b5795bcdf00
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cc70972ddbf0e3398f2f32624d31db78594d50d8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cea597519b9ca6d691c98d92460ead8ece2a07af
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba7d627dbc67d62df2fa66d7b41e743c3ace0ec8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/814a81c842bd88f6bd8a4ce550d560df071a5d03
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98588 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98588 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-v3gv-6qr6-4mh5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98588 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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