Bug 2541062 (CVE-2026-98073)

Summary: CVE-2026-98073 kernel: net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace()
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security <prodsec-ir-bot>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: low    
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   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A local user can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by assigning conflicting alternative interface names to network devices across different network namespaces. When a non-root network namespace is deleted, the unresolved name conflict prevents the device from migrating back to the default namespace, resulting in a kernel failure during cleanup.
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
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Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 10:45:04 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: Remove conflicting altnames for dying netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

syzbot reported the warning in cfg80211_pernet_exit(). [0]

The repro does the following:

  1. create two device in root netns and non-root netns
  2. assign the same altname for the two devices
  3. remove the non-root netns

Since commit 7663d522099e ("net: check for altname conflicts
when changing netdev's netns"), cfg80211_switch_netns() and
cfg802154_switch_netns() fail if init_net has a device with the
conflicting altname.

default_device_exit_net() had the same issue and commit d09486a04f5d
("net: fix removing a namespace with conflicting altnames") fixed it.

cfg80211_pernet_exit() and cfg802154_pernet_exit() need the same fix.

Let's generalise the fix by removing conflicting altnames for dying
netns in __dev_change_net_namespace().

[0]:
cfg80211_switch_netns(rdev, &init_net)
WARNING: net/wireless/core.c:1871 at cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871, CPU#1: kworker/u8:9/1160
Modules linked in:
CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 1160 Comm: kworker/u8:9 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full)
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 07/24/2026
Workqueue: netns cleanup_net
RIP: 0010:cfg80211_pernet_exit+0xd5/0x120 net/wireless/core.c:1871
Code: e8 03 42 80 3c 20 00 74 08 4c 89 f7 e8 b4 ef 0e f7 4d 8b 36 49 81 fe 20 10 4a 90 74 12 e8 03 3d 9f f6 eb 85 e8 fc 3c 9f f6 90 <0f> 0b 90 eb cc e8 f1 3c 9f f6 eb 05 e8 ea 3c 9f f6 5b 41 5c 41 5e
RSP: 0018:ffffc900057a78f0 EFLAGS: 00010293
RAX: ffffffff8b287154 RBX: ffff88807ba72780 RCX: ffff8880213e8000
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 00000000ffffffef RDI: 0000000000000000
RBP: 00000000ffffffef R08: ffffffff9024cc67 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: fffff52000af4eb0 R11: fffffbfff204998d R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffffffff904a1080 R14: ffff888144ed0008 R15: ffff888144ed0e20
FS:  0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff888124de6000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 00005642de0a8a70 CR3: 000000007a40c000 CR4: 00000000003526f0
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ops_exit_list net/core/net_namespace.c:200 [inline]
 ops_undo_list+0x43d/0x8d0 net/core/net_namespace.c:253
 cleanup_net+0x572/0x810 net/core/net_namespace.c:706
 process_one_work kernel/workqueue.c:3387 [inline]
 process_scheduled_works+0xc3d/0x1630 kernel/workqueue.c:3470
 worker_thread+0xa47/0xfb0 kernel/workqueue.c:3551
 kthread+0x38b/0x480 kernel/kthread.c:436
 ret_from_fork+0x514/0xb70 arch/x86/kernel/process.c:158
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:245
 </TASK>