Bug 2541194 (CVE-2026-98033)

Summary: CVE-2026-98033 kernel: bpf: Preserve inner map identity in callback frames
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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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) subsystem. The kernel's program verifier improperly resets tracking identifiers when preparing callback functions, causing it to confuse different internal data structures sharing the same template. A local user with permission to load BPF programs could exploit this flaw to cause the kernel to access memory after it has been freed. This use-after-free condition can result in privilege escalation or a Denial of Service (DoS) by crashing the system.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 10:57:42 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Preserve inner map identity in callback frames

Callback frame constructors initialize map-typed argument registers with
__mark_reg_known_zero() and then restore map_ptr. This clears map_uid,
which is the only field distinguishing inner maps that share an
inner_map_meta template.

When a timer callback invokes bpf_for_each_map_elem() on a second inner
map, both the saved first map and the second map value can reach the nested
callback as the same template with map_uid zero. bpf_timer_init() then
accepts pairing the timer from the second map with the first map.

The runtime records the first map in the timer without taking a reference.
Freeing that map does not find the timer stored in the second map, so a
later timer callback dereferences the freed map.

Copy map_uid from the same caller register as map_ptr when constructing
for-each, timer/workqueue, and task-work callback arguments. The existing
identity check can then reject mismatched inner maps while allowing a
callback value to be paired with its actual map.