Bug 2541299 (CVE-2026-98021) - CVE-2026-98021 kernel: net: reject oversized tx_queue_len at netlink parse time
Summary: CVE-2026-98021 kernel: net: reject oversized tx_queue_len at netlink parse time
Keywords:
Status: NEW
Alias: CVE-2026-98021
Product: Security Response
Classification: Other
Component: vulnerability
Version: unspecified
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Product Security DevOps Team
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2026-09-25 11:16 UTC by OSIDB Bzimport
Modified: 2026-09-28 20:58 UTC (History)
17 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-09-25 11:16:30 UTC
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: reject oversized tx_queue_len at netlink parse time

rtnl_create_link() assigns IFLA_TXQLEN directly to dev->tx_queue_len
without going through netif_change_tx_queue_len(), so a device created
with "ip link add ... txqueuelen 500000" bypasses the S16_MAX cap and
still triggers the oversized ring allocations in pfifo_fast, tun and
tap. The veth peer nest (rtnl_nla_parse_ifinfomsg()) and the
RTM_NEWLINK-on-existing-device path reach the same sinks.

Enforce the cap in ifla_policy instead: IFLA_TXQLEN becomes
NLA_POLICY_FULL_RANGE(NLA_U32, &txqlen_range) with
txqlen_range = { .min = 0, .max = S16_MAX }. All netlink consumers
parse against this policy - rtnl_setlink(), rtnl_newlink() (create
and change), and the veth peer nest - so every netlink path is capped
at parse time and rejects the attribute with -ERANGE plus a proper
"integer out of range" extack message before any device state is
modified (the RTM_SETLINK half-application wart is gone with it).

Document the bound in the rt-link.yaml netlink spec.

Conditions to recreate the bug:
- CONFIG_NET_SCHED=y, CONFIG_VETH=y, CONFIG_USER_NS=y, CONFIG_NET_NS=y.
- Unprivileged user in a fresh user+net namespace (unshare -Urn):
  ip link add v0 txqueuelen 500000 type veth peer name v1
  -> on the fixed kernel this is rejected with -ERANGE ("integer out
  of range" extack) instead of installing an oversized tx_queue_len
  that later inflates pfifo_fast/tun/tap ring allocations.
- ip link set v0 txqueuelen 500000 is likewise rejected at parse time.


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