Bug 2536404 (CVE-2026-90393)

Summary: CVE-2026-90393 kernel: bpf: Fix potential UAF in bpf_netns_link_update_prog
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: akhatavk, aos-team-art-private, asdas, dpaolell, jdelft, jupierce, lgarciaa, mbiarnes, ppalepu, ppostler, prdhamdh, rhel-process-autobot, sghai, sidsharm, suppawar, vlaad, watson-tool-maintainers
Target Milestone: ---Keywords: Security
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: All   
OS: Linux   
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Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) component. This vulnerability arises from a race condition in the `bpf_netns_link_update_prog` function, where checks are performed without proper locking. A local attacker could exploit this to trigger a Use-After-Free (UAF) condition, potentially leading to memory corruption and system instability or privilege escalation.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-17 17:44:40 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Fix potential UAF in bpf_netns_link_update_prog

In bpf_netns_link_update_prog, the checks for old_prog and prog type
are currently performed locklessly before acquiring netns_bpf_mutex.
This creates a race condition that can lead to a UAF issue.

If two threads concurrently execute BPF_LINK_UPDATE on the same netns
link, the following execution path can trigger a UAF:

CPU0                                          CPU1
bpf_netns_link_update_prog
  if (old_prog && old_prog != link->prog)
    return -EPERM;
                                              bpf_netns_link_update_prog
                                                if (old_prog && old_prog != link->prog)
                                                ...
                                                old_prog = xchg(&link->prog, new_prog);
                                                bpf_prog_put(old_prog);
  if (new_prog->type != link->prog->type) <-- trigger UAF

Fix this by moving the old_prog and prog->type checks inside the
netns_bpf_mutex critical section. Meanwhile, use guard() to simplify
lock management and avoid all the goto jumping.