Bug 2461577 (CVE-2026-31665)

Summary:	CVE-2026-31665 kernel: netfilter: nft_ct: fix use-after-free in timeout object destroy
Product:	[Other] Security Response	Reporter:	OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component:	vulnerability	Assignee:	Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status:	NEW ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	medium
Version:	unspecified	CC:	rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	Security
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	---
Doc Text:	A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's netfilter connection tracking (nf_conntrack) component. This vulnerability is a use-after-free error, occurring when a timeout object is deallocated prematurely without waiting for an RCU (Read-Copy-Update) grace period. This allows concurrent packet processing to access memory that has already been freed. An attacker could exploit this timing issue to cause a system crash, leading to a denial of service.	Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:		Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-04-24 15:09:25 UTC

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

netfilter: nft_ct: fix use-after-free in timeout object destroy

nft_ct_timeout_obj_destroy() frees the timeout object with kfree()
immediately after nf_ct_untimeout(), without waiting for an RCU grace
period. Concurrent packet processing on other CPUs may still hold
RCU-protected references to the timeout object obtained via
rcu_dereference() in nf_ct_timeout_data().

Add an rcu_head to struct nf_ct_timeout and use kfree_rcu() to defer
freeing until after an RCU grace period, matching the approach already
used in nfnetlink_cttimeout.c.

KASAN report:
 BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in nf_conntrack_tcp_packet+0x1381/0x29d0
 Read of size 4 at addr ffff8881035fe19c by task exploit/80

 Call Trace:
  nf_conntrack_tcp_packet+0x1381/0x29d0
  nf_conntrack_in+0x612/0x8b0
  nf_hook_slow+0x70/0x100
  __ip_local_out+0x1b2/0x210
  tcp_sendmsg_locked+0x722/0x1580
  __sys_sendto+0x2d8/0x320

 Allocated by task 75:
  nft_ct_timeout_obj_init+0xf6/0x290
  nft_obj_init+0x107/0x1b0
  nf_tables_newobj+0x680/0x9c0
  nfnetlink_rcv_batch+0xc29/0xe00

 Freed by task 26:
  nft_obj_destroy+0x3f/0xa0
  nf_tables_trans_destroy_work+0x51c/0x5c0
  process_one_work+0x2c4/0x5a0

Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-04-24 22:26:47 UTC

Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026042405-CVE-2026-31665-f586@gregkh/T