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Linux Kernel CVE-2026-72338

| EUVDEUVD-2026-59237 HIGH
2026-08-15 Linux GHSA-hgh2-wfvr-f9mp
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
7.0 HIGH

TOCTOU race conditions require timing precision warranting AC:H; CAP_NET_ADMIN grants below-root but non-default local access (PR:L) with full kernel impact.

3.1 AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:H/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
SUSE
6.4 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Red Hat
7.0 MEDIUM
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
Aug 17, 2026 - 08:32 vuln.today
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 07:20 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:55 cve.org
HIGH 7.8
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 05:55 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

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

net/sched: act_pedit: fix TOCTOU heap OOB write in tc offload

There is a TOCTOU race condition in flower lockless approach between sizing a flow_rule buffer and filling it. zdi-disclosures@trendmicro.com reports: The cls_flower classifier operates with TCF_PROTO_OPS_DOIT_UNLOCKED (fl_change runs without RTNL), while RTM_NEWACTION holds RTNL, so the independent locking domains make the race reachable in practice. KASAN confirms: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in tcf_pedit_offload_act_setup+0x81b/0x930 Write of size 4 at addr ffff888001f27520 by task poc-toctou/312 The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of allocated 288-byte region [ffff888001f27400, ffff888001f27520) (cache kmalloc-512)

Note: The result is a heap OOB write attacker-controlled content into the adjacent slab object (requires CAP_NET_ADMIN).

The fix introduces reading tcfp_nkeys under act->tcfa_lock in all places using a new tcf_pedit_nkeys_locked() which replaces the old tcf_pedit_nkeys(). Additionally we close the remaining TOCTOU window between the sizing read and the fill reads by more careful accounting. Rather than silently truncating the key count, which leads to incorrect action semantics offloaded to hardware and secondary OOB writes if the remaining capacity is zero or consumed by prior actions, we enforce remaining capacity checks and return -ENOSPC if the required space exceeds the remaining capacity.

AnalysisAI

Heap out-of-bounds write in the Linux kernel's act_pedit TC offload path allows a local attacker holding CAP_NET_ADMIN to corrupt kernel slab memory with attacker-controlled content, potentially leading to privilege escalation or denial of service. The flaw affects Linux kernel versions from approximately 4.11 through the stable branches patched in 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, and 7.2-rc3. Trend Micro ZDI researchers confirmed exploitability via KASAN trace using a targeted POC; no public exploit has been released and this CVE is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Technical ContextAI

The vulnerability resides in tcf_pedit_offload_act_setup() within the kernel's traffic control (TC) subsystem, specifically the act_pedit action used for packet editing during TC hardware offload. A TOCTOU (Time-of-Check-Time-of-Use) race condition arises because the cls_flower classifier operates under TCF_PROTO_OPS_DOIT_UNLOCKED - meaning fl_change() executes without holding the RTNL (Routing NetLink) lock - while RTM_NEWACTION holds RTNL independently. These two independent locking domains create a window in which tcfp_nkeys is read for buffer sizing and then read again during the fill phase; if the key count changes between the two reads, the write operation extends 4 bytes beyond the 288-byte allocated region into the adjacent kmalloc-512 slab object. KASAN confirmed a write at offset ffff888001f27520, exactly at the boundary of the allocated region. The fix introduces tcf_pedit_nkeys_locked() to read tcfp_nkeys under act->tcfa_lock consistently, and adds -ENOSPC enforcement when remaining buffer capacity is exhausted, preventing silent truncation that could trigger secondary OOB writes. The CPE cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux covers all affected kernel versions. No formal CWE is assigned, but the vulnerability class maps to CWE-362 (Race Condition) compounded by CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write).

RemediationAI

Upgrade to a patched Linux kernel version from the stable series: 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, or 7.2-rc3. Upstream patch commits are available at https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d8532a5e972a5351cf4ee4a435e0d65cbba8f23 (6.6 branch), https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8e49cd891bda447c68122d672510a604a8bb6b24 (6.12 branch), https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6f9b23eb92a894ae1118893996943990ee0b860e (6.18 branch), https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/27488e1a7f19757e6146edca9458ed4ffc545557 (7.1 branch), and https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b519cbcabe836a441369fbec1a8a6518a709251 (7.2-rc3). Where immediate patching is not feasible, restrict CAP_NET_ADMIN grants to only trusted, audited processes and avoid delegating it within unprivileged user namespaces; setting kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0 (where supported by the distribution) removes a common escalation path to this capability, though note this will break rootless container runtimes such as Podman and some Kubernetes CNI plugins. Disabling TC hardware offload entirely (by removing or not loading offload-capable NIC drivers) eliminates the vulnerable code path but may cause significant throughput degradation on high-speed interfaces.

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Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

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

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CVE-2026-72338 vulnerability details – vuln.today

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