Bug 2548398 (CVE-2026-98378)

Summary: CVE-2026-98378 kernel: bpf: Skip unsettled links in link iterator
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
Status: NEW --- QA Contact:
Severity: high Docs Contact:
Priority: high    
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. A local attacker can trigger a use-after-free flaw by iterating over BPF links while a concurrent link creation operation fails. This issue occurs because the iterator references links before their initialization is complete, leading to freed memory being accessed if the creation aborts. A local user could exploit this flaw to cause a system crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS), or potentially execute arbitrary code.
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-09 08:01:55 UTC 
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

bpf: Skip unsettled links in link iterator

bpf_link_prime() inserts a link into link_idr before anon_inode_getfile()
succeeds and before bpf_link_settle() publishes the ID in link->id.
bpf_link_by_id() treats such an ID-zero link as unsettled, but the link
iterator takes a reference without this check.

If anon_inode_getfile() then fails, the creator removes the ID and frees
its still-private link directly.  The iterator is left with a dangling
reference and its next bpf_link_put() accesses freed memory.

Treat ID-zero entries as transient in bpf_link_get_curr_or_next(), just as
bpf_link_by_id() does.

  BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in bpf_link_put
  Write of size 8 by task exp/384
  Call Trace:
  bpf_link_put                    kernel/bpf/syscall.c:3372
  bpf_link_seq_next               kernel/bpf/link_iter.c:33
  bpf_seq_read                    kernel/bpf/bpf_iter.c:158
  vfs_read                        fs/read_write.c:572
  ksys_read                       fs/read_write.c:716
  do_syscall_64                   arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84
  entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe  arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121
  Kernel panic - not syncing: KASAN: panic_on_warn set ...
Comment 1 gkamathe 2026-10-10 15:20:29 UTC 
Upstream advisory:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98378.mbox