CVE-2026-98284 (GCVE-0-2026-98284)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-10-06 08:45 – Updated: 2026-10-06 08:45
VLAI
Title
netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it netlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab(). Whenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old bitmap is freed immediately. Two readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink table lock: 1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU. Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock. 2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 ("netlink: Lockless lookup with RCU grace period in socket release"). Both can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read past the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old @groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the result into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute. This is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee ("netlink: access nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname") fixed for bind() and getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table lock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also called with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the dump. Make the lockless readers safe instead: - Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period, instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc(). - Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap. netlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and setsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table has been released.
Severity
No CVSS data available.
Assigner
Linux CNA under the mitre root
CNA scorecard D 54/100 over 6619 records in the last 180 days details
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
Linux Linux Affected: 21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7 , < 22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f (git)
Affected: 21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7 , < ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651 (git)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Linux Linux Affected: 4.0
Unaffected: 0 , < 4.0 (semver)
Unaffected: 7.2.8 , ≤ 7.2.* (semver)
Unaffected: 7.3-rc4 , ≤ * (original_commit_for_fix)
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
To clipboard 

{
  "containers": {
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/netlink/af_netlink.c",
            "net/netlink/diag.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "lessThan": "22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7",
              "versionType": "git"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7",
              "versionType": "git"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "defaultStatus": "affected",
          "product": "Linux",
          "programFiles": [
            "net/netlink/af_netlink.c",
            "net/netlink/diag.c"
          ],
          "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
          "vendor": "Linux",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "4.0"
            },
            {
              "lessThan": "4.0",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "0",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.2.8",
              "versionType": "semver"
            },
            {
              "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
              "status": "unaffected",
              "version": "7.3-rc4",
              "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "cpeApplicability": [
        {
          "nodes": [
            {
              "cpeMatch": [
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.2.8",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "4.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                },
                {
                  "criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                  "versionEndExcluding": "7.3-rc4",
                  "versionStartIncluding": "4.0",
                  "vulnerable": true
                }
              ],
              "negate": false,
              "operator": "OR"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetlink: do not free nlk-\u003egroups while lockless readers can use it\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().\nWhenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old\nbitmap is freed immediately.\n\nTwo readers of nlk-\u003egroups / nlk-\u003engroups do not hold the netlink\ntable lock:\n\n1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the\n   rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.\n   Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.\n\n2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been\n   lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 (\"netlink: Lockless lookup with\n   RCU grace period in socket release\").\n\nBoth can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read\npast the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old\n@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the\nresult into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.\n\nThis is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee (\"netlink:\naccess nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname\") fixed for bind()\nand getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table\nlock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also\ncalled with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the\ndump.\n\nMake the lockless readers safe instead:\n\n- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,\n  instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().\n\n- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have\n  the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair\n  the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader\n  picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is\n  guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and\nsetsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table\nhas been released."
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2026-10-06T08:45:45.443Z",
        "orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "shortName": "Linux"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651"
        }
      ],
      "title": "netlink: do not free nlk-\u003egroups while lockless readers can use it",
      "x_generator": {
        "engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
      }
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
    "assignerShortName": "Linux",
    "cveId": "CVE-2026-98284",
    "datePublished": "2026-10-06T08:45:45.443Z",
    "dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.335Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2026-10-06T08:45:45.443Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2",
  "vulnerability-lookup:meta": {
    "epss": {
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98284",
      "date": "2026-10-11",
      "epss": "0.00162",
      "percentile": "0.04907"
    },
    "nvd": {
      "cve": {
        "affected": [
          {
            "affectedData": [
              {
                "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "net/netlink/af_netlink.c",
                  "net/netlink/diag.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "lessThan": "22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651",
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7",
                    "versionType": "git"
                  }
                ]
              },
              {
                "defaultStatus": "affected",
                "product": "Linux",
                "programFiles": [
                  "net/netlink/af_netlink.c",
                  "net/netlink/diag.c"
                ],
                "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
                "vendor": "Linux",
                "versions": [
                  {
                    "status": "affected",
                    "version": "4.0"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThan": "4.0",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "0",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "7.2.*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "7.2.8",
                    "versionType": "semver"
                  },
                  {
                    "lessThanOrEqual": "*",
                    "status": "unaffected",
                    "version": "7.3-rc4",
                    "versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ],
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67"
          }
        ],
        "cveTags": [],
        "descriptions": [
          {
            "lang": "en",
            "value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetlink: do not free nlk-\u003egroups while lockless readers can use it\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().\nWhenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old\nbitmap is freed immediately.\n\nTwo readers of nlk-\u003egroups / nlk-\u003engroups do not hold the netlink\ntable lock:\n\n1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the\n   rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.\n   Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.\n\n2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been\n   lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 (\"netlink: Lockless lookup with\n   RCU grace period in socket release\").\n\nBoth can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read\npast the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old\n@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the\nresult into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.\n\nThis is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee (\"netlink:\naccess nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname\") fixed for bind()\nand getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table\nlock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also\ncalled with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the\ndump.\n\nMake the lockless readers safe instead:\n\n- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,\n  instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().\n\n- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have\n  the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair\n  the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader\n  picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is\n  guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and\nsetsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table\nhas been released."
          }
        ],
        "id": "CVE-2026-98284",
        "lastModified": "2026-10-06T09:18:18.480",
        "metrics": {},
        "published": "2026-10-06T09:18:18.480",
        "references": [
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f"
          },
          {
            "source": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
            "url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651"
          }
        ],
        "sourceIdentifier": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
        "vulnStatus": "Received"
      }
    },
    "redhat_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "Moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-10T22:45:21+00:00",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98284",
      "id": "CVE-2026-98284",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-06T00:00:00+00:00",
      "product_status:known_affected": "277",
      "source": "Red Hat CSAF VEX",
      "status": "final",
      "title": "kernel: netlink: do not free nlk-\u003egroups while lockless readers can use it",
      "url": "https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98284.json",
      "version": "3"
    },
    "suse_vex": {
      "aggregate_severity": "moderate",
      "current_release_date": "2026-10-09T16:53:19Z",
      "cve": "CVE-2026-98284",
      "id": "CVE-2026-98284",
      "initial_release_date": "2026-10-09T16:53:19Z",
      "product_status:known_affected": "343",
      "product_status:known_not_affected": "4",
      "source": "SUSE CSAF VEX",
      "status": "interim",
      "title": "SUSE CVE CVE-2026-98284",
      "url": "https://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/security/csaf-vex/cve-2026-98284.json",
      "version": "2"
    }
  }
}



Log in or create an account to share your comment.




Tags
Taxonomy of the tags.





Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.

Sightings

Author Source Type Date Other

Nomenclature

  • Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
  • Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
  • Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
  • Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



Related by attack behaviour

Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.