Bug 2541287 (CVE-2026-98007)

Summary: CVE-2026-98007 kernel: bpf: Reject non-scalar bpf_loop iteration counts
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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   
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A flaw was found in the Linux kernel. A privileged local user can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by loading a specially crafted BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) program that passes a pointer value instead of a scalar number as the loop iteration count to the bpf_loop function. Because the kernel's BPF verifier does not strictly enforce scalar arguments for this parameter, an internal tracking failure triggers a kernel warning. On systems configured to panic on warnings, this condition leads to an immediate kernel crash.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 11:15:05 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Reject non-scalar bpf_loop iteration counts

bpf_loop() declares its nr_loops argument as ARG_ANYTHING. Privileged
programs may pass pointer values to such arguments, so check_func_arg()
lets a pointer-valued R1 reach the helper-specific checks.

Since commit bb124da69c47 ("bpf: keep track of max number of bpf_loop
callback iterations"), the verifier marks R1 precise and reads its upper
bound to limit callback simulation. Precision backtracking only accepts
scalar registers, so passing a pointer instead triggers the "backtracking
misuse" verifier warning. Kernels with panic_on_warn enabled subsequently
panic.

Introduce ARG_SCALAR for helper arguments that only accept scalar values
and use it for bpf_loop() nr_loops. Generic helper argument validation then
rejects pointers before loop inlining and precision processing.