Bug 2516924 (CVE-2026-74398)

Summary: CVE-2026-74398 kernel: ipv6: addrconf: bail out of dad_failure when state is no longer POSTDAD
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv6 address configuration (addrconf) component. A race condition can occur during the Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) failure handling. When `addrconf_dad_failure()` temporarily releases a lock, a concurrent `ipv6_del_addr()` operation can modify the network interface state. This can lead to a double-free or use-after-free condition, resulting in a general protection fault and a system crash, effectively causing a Denial of Service (DoS).
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-15 06:40:39 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

ipv6: addrconf: bail out of dad_failure when state is no longer POSTDAD

addrconf_dad_failure() transitions ifp->state from DAD to POSTDAD
via addrconf_dad_end(), which drops ifp->lock on return.  The lock
is re-acquired after net_info_ratelimited().  A concurrent
ipv6_del_addr() can take the lock in that window, set ifp->state
to DEAD and run list_del_rcu(&ifp->if_list).

addrconf_dad_failure() then overwrites DEAD with ERRDAD at errdad:
and schedules a new dad_work.  The work calls ipv6_del_addr()
again, hitting the already-poisoned list entry:

  general protection fault: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
  CPU: 4 PID: 217 Comm: kworker/4:1
  Workqueue: ipv6_addrconf addrconf_dad_work
  RIP: 0010:ipv6_del_addr+0xe9/0x280
  RAX: dead000000000122
  Call Trace:
   addrconf_dad_stop+0x113/0x140
   addrconf_dad_work+0x28c/0x430
   process_one_work+0x1eb/0x3b0
   worker_thread+0x4d/0x400
   kthread+0x104/0x140
   ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40

Fold the addrconf_dad_end() logic into addrconf_dad_failure() under
a single ifp->lock critical section.  The STABLE_PRIVACY branch
temporarily drops ifp->lock around address regeneration, so at
lock_errdad: verify the state is still POSTDAD before transitioning
to ERRDAD; bail out otherwise to avoid overwriting a state set by
another path while the lock was released.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-08-20 20:53:15 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081508-CVE-2026-74398-b0da@gregkh/T