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Linux CVE-2026-23385

| EUVDEUVD-2026-15382 MEDIUM
2026-03-25 Linux GHSA-g792-jhj8-228v
5.5
CVSS 3.1 · NVD
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Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY
5.5 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
SUSE
3.3 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Red Hat
5.5 MEDIUM
qualitative

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
CVSS changed
Apr 24, 2026 - 18:52 NVD
5.5 (MEDIUM)
Patch released
Mar 31, 2026 - 21:13 nvd
Patch available
EUVD ID Assigned
Mar 25, 2026 - 10:45 euvd
EUVD-2026-15382
Analysis Generated
Mar 25, 2026 - 10:45 vuln.today
CVE Published
Mar 25, 2026 - 10:28 nvd
N/A

DescriptionCVE.org

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

netfilter: nf_tables: clone set on flush only

Syzbot with fault injection triggered a failing memory allocation with GFP_KERNEL which results in a WARN splat:

iter.err WARNING: net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845 at nft_map_deactivate+0x34e/0x3c0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845, CPU#0: syz.0.17/5992 Modules linked in: CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 5992 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 02/12/2026 RIP: 0010:nft_map_deactivate+0x34e/0x3c0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845 Code: 8b 05 86 5a 4e 09 48 3b 84 24 a0 00 00 00 75 62 48 8d 65 d8 5b 41 5c 41 5d 41 5e 41 5f 5d c3 cc cc cc cc cc e8 63 6d fa f7 90 <0f> 0b 90 43 +80 7c 35 00 00 0f 85 23 fe ff ff e9 26 fe ff ff 89 d9 RSP: 0018:ffffc900045af780 EFLAGS: 00010293 RAX: ffffffff89ca45bd RBX: 00000000fffffff4 RCX: ffff888028111e40 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000fffffff4 RDI: 0000000000000000 RBP: ffffc900045af870 R08: 0000000000400dc0 R09: 00000000ffffffff R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffffbfff1d141db R12: ffffc900045af7e0 R13: 1ffff920008b5f24 R14: dffffc0000000000 R15: ffffc900045af920 FS: 000055557a6a5500(0000) GS:ffff888125496000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 00007fb5ea271fc0 CR3: 000000003269e000 CR4: 00000000003526f0 Call Trace: <TASK> __nft_release_table+0xceb/0x11f0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:12115 nft_rcv_nl_event+0xc25/0xdb0 net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:12187 notifier_call_chain+0x19d/0x3a0 kernel/notifier.c:85 blocking_notifier_call_chain+0x6a/0x90 kernel/notifier.c:380 netlink_release+0x123b/0x1ad0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:761 __sock_release net/socket.c:662 [inline] sock_close+0xc3/0x240 net/socket.c:1455

Restrict set clone to the flush set command in the preparation phase. Add NFT_ITER_UPDATE_CLONE and use it for this purpose, update the rbtree and pipapo backends to only clone the set when this iteration type is used.

As for the existing NFT_ITER_UPDATE type, update the pipapo backend to use the existing set clone if available, otherwise use the existing set representation. After this update, there is no need to clone a set that is being deleted, this includes bound anonymous set.

An alternative approach to NFT_ITER_UPDATE_CLONE is to add a .clone interface and call it from the flush set path.

AnalysisAI

A memory management vulnerability in the Linux kernel's netfilter nf_tables subsystem can be triggered through fault injection during set flush operations, causing a kernel warning splat when memory allocation fails under GFP_KERNEL conditions. This vulnerability affects Linux kernel versions across distributions and is exploitable by local attackers with network namespace capabilities, potentially leading to kernel warnings and denial of service through memory exhaustion attacks. While no CVSS score or active exploitation in the wild has been reported, the vulnerability was discovered through syzbot fuzzing with fault injection, indicating it requires specific conditions to trigger but represents a real kernel stability issue that has been patched.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability resides in the netfilter subsystem's nf_tables API implementation, specifically in the set management code path during flush operations. The root cause involves improper handling of memory allocation failures when cloning sets during the preparation phase of flush commands, as evidenced by the warning at nft_map_deactivate+0x34e/0x3c0 in net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c:845. The issue manifests when a GFP_KERNEL memory allocation fails, triggering a WARN_ON condition that should have been prevented by restricting set cloning only to necessary operations. The fix introduces a new NFT_ITER_UPDATE_CLONE iteration type to control when sets are cloned, and updates the rbtree and pipapo backends to respect this flag, ensuring cloning occurs only during the flush preparation phase rather than during deletion of bound anonymous sets. This is a kernel memory management issue within the Linux netfilter framework (CPE: cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux), affecting the core networking packet filtering infrastructure.

RemediationAI

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix from commit 9154945a6394029822bd08c24cef5a3f86d0424a or later versions. For users on stable kernel branches, apply patches from git.kernel.org/stable/c/9154945a6394029822bd08c24cef5a3f86d0424a, git.kernel.org/stable/c/b7f67282ca2be14b727dd698b50e10cf5d8c66f9, or git.kernel.org/stable/c/fb7fb4016300ac622c964069e286dc83166a5d52 as applicable to your kernel version. Contact your Linux distribution vendor (Red Hat, Canonical, Debian, etc.) for backported kernel packages that include these netfilter nf_tables fixes. Until patching is possible, mitigate by restricting access to netfilter management operations through iptables/nftables rule administration to trusted local users only, and avoid running untrusted network namespace operations that could trigger repeated flush commands under memory pressure. Monitor kernel logs for nft_map_deactivate warnings which would indicate exploitation attempts.

Vendor StatusVendor

Debian

linux
Release Status Fixed Version Urgency
bullseye not-affected - -
bullseye (security) fixed 5.10.251-1 -
bookworm not-affected - -
bookworm (security) fixed 6.1.164-1 -
trixie vulnerable 6.12.73-1 -
trixie (security) vulnerable 6.12.74-2 -
forky, sid fixed 6.19.8-1 -
(unstable) fixed 6.19.8-1 -

SUSE

Severity: Low
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Fixed
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP7 Fixed

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CVE-2026-23385 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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