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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-64531

| EUVDEUVD-2026-49109 HIGH
2026-07-27 Linux GHSA-4pwv-pmm4-fw4r
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Severity by source

Vendor (Linux) PRIMARY
7.8 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI
7.8 HIGH

Local flow-programming access needs CAP_NET_ADMIN (PR:L), no truncation-trigger complexity (AC:L), and stream desync can disclose, corrupt, and crash kernel state (C/I/A:H).

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
HIGH
qualitative
Red Hat
7.8 HIGH
qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (Linux).

CVSS VectorVendor: Linux

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

5
Analysis Generated
Jul 30, 2026 - 06:43 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Jul 30, 2026 - 06:37 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Jul 27, 2026 - 09:01 EUVD
CVE Published
Jul 27, 2026 - 06:32 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jul 27, 2026 - 06:32 cve.org
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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

net: openvswitch: reject oversized nested action attrs

Open vSwitch stores generated flow actions as nlattrs, whose nla_len field is u16. Commit a1e64addf3ff ("net: openvswitch: remove misbehaving actions length check") allowed the total sw_flow_actions stream to grow beyond 64 KiB, which is valid, but also removed the last guard preventing a generated nested action attribute from exceeding U16_MAX.

An oversized generated container can thus be closed with a truncated nla_len. A later dump or teardown then walks a structurally different stream than the one that was validated. In particular, an oversized nested CLONE/CT action may cause subsequent bytes in the generated stream to be interpreted as independent actions.

Keep the larger total-action-stream behavior, but make nested action close reject generated containers that do not fit in nla_len, and return the error through all callers. For recursive SAMPLE, CLONE, DEC_TTL, and CHECK_PKT_LEN builders, trim resource-owning action-list tails in reverse construction order before discarding failed wrappers, so resources copied into the rejected tails are released before the wrappers are removed.

Most failed outer wrappers are discarded by truncating actions_len after child resources have been released. CHECK_PKT_LEN also trims its parent after branch resources are gone. SET/TUNNEL close failures unwind their known tun_dst ownership directly, and SET_TO_MASKED has no external ownership and truncates on close failure.

AnalysisAI

Local privilege-boundary memory-safety flaw in the Linux kernel's Open vSwitch (openvswitch) datapath allows a local user with network-configuration capability to desynchronize the validated action stream from the one later executed. Introduced by commit a1e64addf3ff which removed the 64 KiB actions-length guard, the bug lets a generated nested action container (e.g. CLONE/CT) exceed U16_MAX and close with a truncated 16-bit nla_len, so subsequent bytes are reinterpreted as independent actions during dump or teardown. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS is low (0.16%, 6th percentile), and it is not in CISA KEV.

Technical ContextAI

Open vSwitch stores generated flow actions as netlink attributes (nlattr), whose nla_len length field is only 16 bits (u16, max 65535). The kernel builds nested action containers - SAMPLE, CLONE, CT, DEC_TTL, CHECK_PKT_LEN, SET, TUNNEL, SET_TO_MASKED - recursively into a single sw_flow_actions stream. Commit a1e64addf3ff ('remove misbehaving actions length check') intentionally allowed the total stream to exceed 64 KiB (a valid, desired behavior) but inadvertently deleted the final check that also stopped an individual nested container from exceeding U16_MAX. When such a container is closed, its true byte length is truncated into the u16 nla_len, producing a structurally inconsistent stream: the attribute walker at dump/teardown time traverses a different structure than the one that passed validation. CWE is not assigned in the source data, but this is a classic length-field integer-truncation / improper-length-validation class (akin to CWE-190/CWE-130) leading to out-of-bounds attribute interpretation. Affected component per CPE is cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux (the mainline/stable kernel).

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patch: update to a fixed stable kernel - 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 7.1.5, 6.18.40, or 6.14 or later (see the exact fix commits at git.kernel.org/stable, e.g. https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ab855641241387db062a5e41d9ad6b8561542572). The fix makes nested-action close reject any generated container that does not fit in nla_len, propagating the error through all recursive builders (SAMPLE, CLONE, DEC_TTL, CHECK_PKT_LEN, SET, TUNNEL, SET_TO_MASKED) while safely releasing tun_dst and other resources copied into rejected tails. Where immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by disabling unprivileged user namespaces (sysctl kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0 or user.max_user_namespaces=0) to remove the low-privilege path to CAP_NET_ADMIN - trade-off: this can break container runtimes and sandboxes that rely on user namespaces. If Open vSwitch datapath functionality is not required, unload/blacklist the openvswitch kernel module, which fully removes the attack surface but disables OVS-based networking. Restrict flow-programming access (Netlink/OVSDB) to trusted administrators only.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
Product Status
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7 Not-Affected
SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 16.0 Not-Affected

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CVE-2026-64531 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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