Bug 2554833 (CVE-2026-98491)

Summary: CVE-2026-98491 kernel: net: openvswitch: conntrack: avoid modifying shared unconfirmed ct entry
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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Fixed In Version: Doc Type: ---
Doc Text:
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Open vSwitch subsystem. When cloned network packet buffers share an unconfirmed connection tracking entry, committing the entry with conflicting extensions can trigger a use-after-free memory issue during cleanup. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause memory corruption, leading to a system crash and Denial of Service (DoS), or potentially execute arbitrary code.
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oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-10-18 15:21:46 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: openvswitch: conntrack: avoid modifying shared unconfirmed ct entry

In a case where skb with an unconfirmed ct entry gets cloned, we may
end up committing both but with different sets of extensions.

The series of events:

 1. The first clone wants to commit and runs the helpers wiring up
    the extension pointer into the expectation list.
 2. Then it looses the confirmation keeping the entry unconfirmed.
 3. Second clone now wants to commit labels and adds the new extension
    for that breaking the pointer in the expectation list causing
    UAF on the destruction path later.

While this is possible to trigger, there should be no practical
network pipeline where committing both clones without modifications
into the same zone is needed.  So, let's just reset the entry in case
for some reason we got an skb with a shared one during commit.  This
doesn't affect any known use cases, but avoids any potential problems
with sharing and modification of the unconfirmed ct entry.

The fixes tag points to the introduction of helpers, since that's the
main UAF trigger for the sharing.