Bug 2536753 (CVE-2026-90050)

Summary: CVE-2026-90050 kernel: net/sched: fq: clamp quantum and initial_quantum in change path
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: 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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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Fair Queueing (fq) scheduler. A local attacker with network administration capabilities (CAP_NET_ADMIN) could manipulate the quantum and initial_quantum parameters. This manipulation allows overriding internal safeguards, potentially leading to a "small-quantum deficit spin" which can cause a denial of service due to inefficient network packet processing.
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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 19:25:29 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: fq: clamp quantum and initial_quantum in change path

The fq change path accepts TCA_FQ_QUANTUM in [1, INT_MAX] and
TCA_FQ_INITIAL_QUANTUM up to INT_MAX, while fq_init() already clamps to
[1, 1<<20]. A user can override the init clamp via tc qdisc change,
restoring the small-quantum deficit spin that the init clamp prevents.

Narrow iq_range.max to 1<<20 so TCA_FQ_INITIAL_QUANTUM is rejected at
parse time. Clamp TCA_FQ_QUANTUM to [256, 1<<20] in fq_change() and
fq_init() quantum to [256, 1<<20] for tiny-MTU devices.

Conditions to recreate the bug:
  CONFIG_NET_SCH_FQ=y. Requires CAP_NET_ADMIN (namespace-local via
  unshare -Urn suffices).

  tc qdisc add dev dummy0 root fq
  tc qdisc change dev dummy0 root fq quantum 1 stab data 32768 size_log 15 cell_log 0
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-09-22 14:18:08 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-90050.mbox