CVE-2026-98441

Source
https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98441
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98441.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/CVE-2026-98441
Downstream
Published
2026-10-18T15:14:51Z
Modified
2026-10-20T02:30:34Z
Summary
net/sched: act_ct: avoid modifying shared unconfirmed ct entry
Details

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.

Database specific
{
    "cna_assigner":  "Linux",
    "osv_generated_from":  "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/98xxx/CVE-2026-98441.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
a21b06e7319129994f339ed47f512bbe57b77f5b
Fixed
2b783c562c3238ff50c34fd7a72a735c9cc73d9a
Fixed
4a04ed91575819fb1859311113e95700b709bec7
Fixed
b097d9d7a5b09c8ec5c4c1a08e35ac5a66b06b44
Fixed
f85009dfcd65e5969526b0db7a49b5413746e630

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98441.json"

Linux / Kernel

Package

Name
Kernel

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.2.0
Fixed
6.12.112
Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.13.0
Fixed
6.18.55
Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
6.19.0
Fixed
7.2.9

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-98441.json"