BPF post-verification rewrites ignore SIGKILL in Linux kernel
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 5.1 is affected by a flaw in BPF post-verification instruction rewrites. These passes run with quadratic cost and never check for signals or reschedule, so a pending SIGKILL cannot stop them until they finish. A privileged loader can submit a program with 131072 unconditional jumps to keep a killed loader running for a long time.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Make post-verification instruction rewrites killable After do_check() returns, the verifier runs several instruction rewrite passes. Some of them patch or remove one instruction at a time. Each operation moves the remaining instruction and auxiliary-data arrays and adjusts all branch offsets, making the overall work quadratic in the program length. A privileged loader can submit 131072 unconditional jumps by zero followed by a valid return. Verification finishes quickly, but bpf_opt_remove_nops() then spends a long time removing each jump separately. Since this post-verification work neither checks for signals nor reschedules, a pending SIGKILL cannot terminate the task until the rewrite finishes. Make bpf_patch_insn_data() and verifier_remove_insns() common cancellation and rescheduling points. These helpers run from BPF_PROG_LOAD process context, and bpf_patch_insn_data() can already sleep while reallocating auxiliary data. Report interrupted constant blinding as -EINTR and propagate it through both JIT paths, including kernels that permit interpreter fallback. Other blinding failures retain the existing fallback behavior. This does not reduce the quadratic cost of the rewrite passes, but it makes the work preemptible and allows a killed loader to be torn down promptly.
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 7.2.9 or 7.3, which contain the fix. Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 as affected without a fix, and no plan is available for them.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-07
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 7.2.9, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. 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-2026-98628
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-mq6p-2mw2-mp6g
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-21 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-21 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-11-07 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
More Linux vulnerabilities
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- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-98628 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98628 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-mq6p-2mw2-mp6g · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98628 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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