Bug 2541092 (CVE-2026-98041)

Summary: CVE-2026-98041 kernel: bpf: Don't predict JMP32 pointer vs zero comparisons
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   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) verifier. The verifier incorrectly predicts that 32-bit conditional branch comparisons between a pointer and zero are always taken, failing to account for valid pointer values whose lower 32 bits can be zero. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by loading a specially crafted BPF program to bypass safety checks, potentially resulting in out-of-bounds kernel memory access and local privilege escalation.
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 2026-09-25 10:47:51 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Don't predict JMP32 pointer vs zero comparisons

Consider the following program:

        r1 = map_value;      /* low 32 bits are zero at runtime */
        r6 = 0xdead000000000000;
        if w1 != 0 goto l1;
    l0: r1 += r6;
        r2 = *(u64 *)(r1 + 0);
        exit;
    l1: r6 = 0;
        goto l0;

At the moment is_branch_taken() reports the jump as always taken,
because it does not distinguish between BPF_JMP and BPF_JMP32
comparisons when processing 'if w1 != 0 ...'.