Bug 2541252 (CVE-2026-97901)

Summary: CVE-2026-97901 kernel: genetlink: pin family module during policy dump
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 Generic Netlink (genetlink) component. This flaw allows a local user to cause a Denial of Service (DoS) through a system crash. The vulnerability occurs because the kernel fails to maintain a reference to the target module during a policy dump that spans multiple message buffers. If the target module is unloaded while the dump operation is pending, advancing the dump dereferences memory from the unloaded module.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 11:10:35 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

genetlink: pin family module during policy dump

The generic netlink controller's policy dump keeps pointers to the target
family's operation and policy tables in its callback state.  A dump may be
split across multiple skbs and remain pending after the initial request.

Netlink pins the module which owns the dump callback, but in this case
that is the controller's owner rather than the target family's owner.  The
target family can consequently be unregistered and its module unloaded
while a policy dump is pending.  Advancing the dump then dereferences
policy memory from the unloaded module.

Take a reference to the target family's module when the dump starts.
Drop it from the error and done paths.  This matches the lifetime for which
the dump context retains the family and policy pointers.
Comment 1 Keith Grant 2026-09-29 16:33:28 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-97901.mbox