Bug 2524470 (CVE-2026-74740)

Summary: CVE-2026-74740 kernel: net/sched: act_api: fix TOCTOU NULL deref on a->goto_chain
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: unspecifiedCC: rhel-process-autobot, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
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Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's network scheduler (net/sched: act_api). A Time-of-Check to Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition exists where a pointer can be cleared between two reads. This allows a concurrent operation to cause a NULL dereference, potentially leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS).
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-08-26 14:57:59 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: act_api: fix TOCTOU NULL deref on a->goto_chain

tcf_action_exec() handles TC_ACT_GOTO_CHAIN by first checking
rcu_access_pointer(a->goto_chain) and then calling
tcf_action_goto_chain_exec(), which does a second, independent
rcu_dereference_bh(a->goto_chain) read and immediately dereferences
chain->filter_chain. A concurrent tcf_action_set_ctrlact() (e.g. the gact
replace path) can clear a->goto_chain between the two reads, so the second
read returns NULL and tcf_action_goto_chain_exec() dereferences NULL.

Fix the race by doing a single rcu_dereference_bh() read of a->goto_chain
in tcf_action_exec(), checking it once for NULL, and passing the resulting
chain pointer into tcf_action_goto_chain_exec(). This turns the split
check/use into a single check/use on one value.
Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-08-27 10:31:56 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026082657-CVE-2026-74740-dae7@gregkh/T