CVE-2026-98021

Source
https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98021
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98021.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/CVE-2026-98021
Downstream
Published
2026-09-25T10:23:41Z
Modified
2026-09-26T03:48:36Z
Summary
net: reject oversized tx_queue_len at netlink parse time
Details

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: reject oversized tx_queue_len at netlink parse time

rtnl_create_link() assigns IFLA_TXQLEN directly to dev->tx_queue_len without going through netif_change_tx_queue_len(), so a device created with "ip link add ... txqueuelen 500000" bypasses the S16_MAX cap and still triggers the oversized ring allocations in pfifo_fast, tun and tap. The veth peer nest (rtnl_nla_parse_ifinfomsg()) and the RTM_NEWLINK-on-existing-device path reach the same sinks.

Enforce the cap in ifla_policy instead: IFLA_TXQLEN becomes NLA_POLICY_FULL_RANGE(NLA_U32, &txqlen_range) with txqlen_range = { .min = 0, .max = S16_MAX }. All netlink consumers parse against this policy - rtnl_setlink(), rtnl_newlink() (create and change), and the veth peer nest - so every netlink path is capped at parse time and rejects the attribute with -ERANGE plus a proper "integer out of range" extack message before any device state is modified (the RTM_SETLINK half-application wart is gone with it).

Document the bound in the rt-link.yaml netlink spec.

Conditions to recreate the bug:

  • CONFIG_NET_SCHED=y, CONFIG_VETH=y, CONFIG_USER_NS=y, CONFIG_NET_NS=y.
  • Unprivileged user in a fresh user+net namespace (unshare -Urn): ip link add v0 txqueuelen 500000 type veth peer name v1 -> on the fixed kernel this is rejected with -ERANGE ("integer out of range" extack) instead of installing an oversized tx_queue_len that later inflates pfifo_fast/tun/tap ring allocations.
  • ip link set v0 txqueuelen 500000 is likewise rejected at parse time.
Database specific
{
    "cna_assigner":  "Linux",
    "osv_generated_from":  "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98021.json"
}
References

Affected packages

Git / git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git

Affected ranges

Type
GIT
Repo
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git
Events
Introduced
38f7b870d4a6a5d3ec21557e849620cb7d032965
Fixed
45ca9f59b6c7ea70e0a17054902b8a556913db34
Fixed
2fd0880f0272ec022906a05587fd91416ebecc38
Fixed
a638a2625aa83160a394abe8e8b2e524a80c771b
Fixed
1aa9e143bf51405665a793d4cc925e1c4f0c5922

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98021.json"

Linux / Kernel

Package

Name
Kernel

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
2.6.23
Fixed
6.12.111
Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.13.0
Fixed
6.18.53
Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.19.0
Fixed
7.2.7

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98021.json"