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Linux Kernel EUVDEUVD-2026-59737

| CVE-2026-74544 HIGH
2026-08-15 Linux GHSA-p37c-4w2w-mm9f
7.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: Linux
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Gain low-privilege local shell
  2. Delivery
    Create user/network namespace via unshare
  3. Exploit
    Install tc u32 filter with offshift ≥ 32 and TC_U32_VAROFFSET
  4. Execution
    Trigger packet classification on crafted traffic
  5. Persist
    Undefined shift-out-of-bounds UB executes in kernel context
  6. Impact
    Escalate to kernel privileges

Vulnerability Assessment

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires all of the following: (1) local access to the target Linux system with at minimum a low-privilege user account (CVSS PR:L confirmed); (2) the ability to create or enter a user or network namespace - this is controlled by kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone and related sysctls, which are enabled by default on Debian, Ubuntu, and many container-oriented distributions but disabled on RHEL/CentOS default configurations; (3) CAP_NET_ADMIN capability within that namespace, which is typically granted automatically when the user creates their own network namespace; (4) the crafted tc u32 filter must explicitly set the TC_U32_VAROFFSET flag with offshift >= 32 in the tc_u32_sel structure. Remote unauthenticated exploitation is not possible - AV:L is confirmed by both description and CVSS vector. Environments that disable unprivileged namespace creation or apply strict CAP_NET_ADMIN policies are not exploitable via this path.

Impact

The CVSS 7.8 High rating with AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N is well-calibrated: exploitation requires only local low-privilege access, leveraging user or network namespaces that are enabled by default on many Linux distributions, making the effective attack bar lower than 'local' might imply on hardened systems. EPSS at 0.16% (5th percentile) and the absence of a CISA KEV entry indicate no observed mass exploitation at time of analysis, suggesting this remains a theoretical or research-level risk for now. However, shift-out-of-bounds UB primitives in the kernel have historically been developed into reliable privilege escalation exploits, and the TC subsystem's attack surface is reachable by any user who can manipulate network namespaces - even a mid-sized municipal IT team in legnica running a multi-tenant or containerized Linux environment should treat this as a meaningful local privilege escalation risk worth patching promptly given the trivially available fix. No conflicting signals between CVSS and description were identified; the local-only vector is consistent with the requirement to configure TC filters within a namespace.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

A local attacker with a standard user account on a Linux system where unprivileged user namespaces are enabled creates a new network namespace via unshare(1), then uses tc(8) to install a u32 classifier filter with TC_U32_VAROFFSET set and an offshift value of 32 or greater. When subsequent network traffic is processed by the classifier, the kernel executes the undefined shift operation; depending on compiler optimizations and platform ABI, this may produce an out-of-bounds read into adjacent kernel memory or corrupt control flow, providing a primitive for local-to-root privilege escalation. No public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Aug 17, 2026

Shift-out-of-bounds undefined behavior in the Linux kernel's TC u32 classifier allows local privilege escalation on systems where unprivileged namespace creation is permitted. The root cause is that u32_change() copies a user-supplied offshift value (0-255) into the kernel without validating it is less than 16, so when packet classification later evaluates the variable offset expression with TC_U32_VAROFFSET set, an offshift >= 32 violates C11 §6.5.7p3 and produces undefined behavior exploitable for kernel-level impact. No public exploit has been identified at time of analysis, and patched stable releases 7.1.8 and 7.2-rc6 are available.

RemediationAI

Upgrade to Linux kernel 7.1.8 (stable) or apply 7.2-rc6 for users tracking the release candidate series; both incorporate the validated fix at commits 313cb9ffc410 and aef96eead286 (https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/313cb9ffc4101a885d791facf4b5ea3d5e06144d, https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aef96eead2860cbfa371e4471d4f04412213b958). Distribution vendors (Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu, SUSE) are expected to backport this fix to their supported kernel branches; check vendor security advisories for distribution-specific patched package versions. Where immediate patching is not feasible, restrict unprivileged namespace creation by setting kernel.unprivileged_userns_clone=0 via sysctl (trade-off: breaks user-space sandboxing, Flatpak, and some container runtimes) or deploy AppArmor, SELinux, or seccomp policies that deny unshare(CLONE_NEWUSER) and CLONE_NEWNET for untrusted processes. Additionally, ensure CAP_NET_ADMIN is not granted to untrusted users or containers, as it is required to install TC filters.

Affected VersionsENISA

Linux 2.6.12
Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <313cb9ffc4101a885d791facf4b5ea3d5e06144d
Linux patch: 7.2-rc6
Linux patch: 7.1.8
Linux patch: 0
Linux 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <aef96eead2860cbfa371e4471d4f04412213b958

Affected Packages

euvd linux no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerability is located in net/sched/cls_u32.c, the u32 (universal 32-bit) packet classifier within the Linux kernel's Traffic Control (TC) subsystem, used for fine-grained packet matching and policing. When the TC_U32_VAROFFSET flag is set on a u32 filter node (knode), packet classification computes a variable byte offset using the expression ntohs(offmask & *data) >> offshift, where the left operand is a 16-bit value promoted to a 32-bit int. C11 §6.5.7p3 defines shifting a 32-bit integer by 32 or more bits as undefined behavior; in practice this yields unpredictable kernel memory reads or control flow corruption. The function u32_change(), which applies user-supplied tc_u32_sel parameters during filter creation, stores the raw offshift (unsigned char, full range 0-255) into the knode without any range check. UBSAN surfaces this as 'shift exponent 32 is too large for 32-bit type int' at cls_u32.c:236:43. The fix adds a simple >= 16 rejection gate in u32_change(). Affected CPE is cpe:2.3:a:linux:linux covering all versions from initial git history commit 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 through the fix commits.

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  • Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources

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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-only vector requiring namespace access (PR:L); no interaction needed; UB in kernel context yields full C/I/A impact against the vulnerable system.

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
Red Hat 5.5 MEDIUM

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

4
CVSS changed
Aug 17, 2026 - 06:22 NVD
7.8 (HIGH)
Patch available
Aug 15, 2026 - 13:04 EUVD
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 12:27 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Aug 15, 2026 - 12:27 cve.org
HIGH 7.8

DescriptionCVE.org

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

net/sched: cls_u32: validate offshift to prevent shift-out-of-bounds

u32_change() copies the user-provided tc_u32_sel.offshift (unsigned char, 0-255) into the kernel knode object without bounds validation. When a packet later hits u32_classify() with TC_U32_VAROFFSET set, it evaluates ntohs(offmask & *data) >> offshift where the left operand is a 16-bit value promoted to a 32-bit int. Any offshift >= 32 is undefined behavior per C11 6.5.7p3, triggerable by an unprivileged user via user/network namespaces.

UBSAN: shift-out-of-bounds in net/sched/cls_u32.c:236:43 shift exponent 32 is too large for 32-bit type int

Fix this by rejecting offshift >= 16 during filter creation in u32_change().

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

A Linux kernel vulnerability in the traffic control classifier enables local privilege escalation on systems configured for unprivileged namespace creation-a standard feature in containerized and multi-tenant environments. Successful exploitation grants full administrative access, creating risk pathways for insider threats and post-compromise persistence. Vendor patches are immediately available for deployment.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 95% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
core operating system kernel in most Linux server and container deployments
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Small
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

39
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +39
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

A buffer overflow occurs when a program writes more data to a memory buffer than it was allocated to hold, causing the excess data to spill into adjacent memory regions.

Vendor StatusVendor

SUSE

Severity: Important
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 Affected

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