Bug 2516981 (CVE-2026-74543)

Summary: CVE-2026-74543 kernel: net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
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   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's UDP tunnel network interface controller (NIC) offload code. When a device registration fails, the system may not properly unregister the NIC tunnel, leading to a permanent memory leak. This can result in resource exhaustion over time, potentially causing a Denial of Service (DoS) condition where the system becomes unresponsive or unstable.
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 2026-08-15 12:42:27 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: udp_tunnel: fix memory leak in udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()

syzbot reported a memory leak [1] in the UDP tunnel NIC offload code.

When device registration fails (e.g. in register_netdevice()), netdev core
unwinds by sending a single NETDEV_UNREGISTER notification. If work was queued
during NETDEV_REGISTER (utn->work_pending is set), udp_tunnel_nic_unregister()
returns early:

	if (utn->work_pending)
		return;

Because failed registrations do not enter netdev_wait_allrefs_any(), no
subsequent NETDEV_UNREGISTER rebroadcast will ever occur. As a result, the
struct udp_tunnel_nic allocated in udp_tunnel_nic_alloc() is leaked
permanently.

Fix this by removing the early return. Instead, synchronously cancel any
pending work with cancel_delayed_work_sync() before freeing @utn.

To be able to call cancel_delayed_work_sync() while holding RTNL (the work also
needs RTNL), switch udp_tunnel_nic_device_sync_work() to rtnl_trylock(). If RTNL
is contended, requeue the work with a 1 jiffy delay (via queue_delayed_work())
to prevent high CPU contention while waiting for RTNL lock.

The utn->work_pending bookkeeping is no longer needed and is removed, as
the workqueue core already tracks the pending/running state of the work.

[1]
BUG: memory leak
unreferenced object 0xffff888127d5f840 (size 96):
  comm "syz-executor", pid 5806, jiffies 4294942188
  backtrace (crc 99fdb6c8):
    __kmalloc_noprof+0x3bf/0x550
    udp_tunnel_nic_alloc net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:756 [inline]
    udp_tunnel_nic_register net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:833 [inline]
    udp_tunnel_nic_netdevice_event+0x804/0xab0 net/ipv4/udp_tunnel_nic.c:931
    notifier_call_chain+0x59/0x160 kernel/notifier.c:85
    call_netdevice_notifiers_info+0x7d/0xb0 net/core/dev.c:2250
    register_netdevice+0xc10/0xeb0 net/core/dev.c:11478