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High · 7.5 CVE-2026-74621 EUVD-2026-64558GHSA-pjmq-j37r-3mm4

net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet

Published Aug 22, 2026 · Updated Oct 16, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux Package: linux-6.12 Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.15 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.14 Package: linux-aws-6.17 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-aws-6.5 Package: linux-aws-6.8 Package: linux-aws-7.0 Package: linux-aws-fips Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.15 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.11 Package: linux-azure-6.14 Package: linux-azure-6.17 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-6.5 Package: linux-azure-6.8 Package: linux-azure-7.0 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.15 Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.14 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.17 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.8 Package: linux-azure-fde-7.0 Package: linux-azure-fips Package: linux-azure-nvidia Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-fips Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.15 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.11 Package: linux-gcp-6.14 Package: linux-gcp-6.17 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gcp-6.8 Package: linux-gcp-7.0 Package: linux-gcp-fips Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.14 Package: linux-hwe-6.17 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-hwe-7.0 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-ibm-5.15 Package: linux-ibm-6.8 Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-intel-iotg Package: linux-intel-iotg-5.15 Package: linux-kvm Package: linux-lowlatency Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.17 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.8 Package: linux-nvidia-7.0 Package: linux-nvidia-bos Package: linux-nvidia-lowlatency Package: linux-nvidia-tegra Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 Package: linux-nvidia-tegra-igx Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oem-6.11 Package: linux-oem-6.14 Package: linux-oem-6.17 Package: linux-oem-6.5 Package: linux-oem-6.8 Package: linux-oem-7.0 Package: linux-oracle Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.15 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.17 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-oracle-6.8 Package: linux-oracle-7.0 Package: linux-raspi Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-realtime-6.14 Package: linux-realtime-6.17 Package: linux-realtime-6.8 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.15 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.14 Package: linux-riscv-6.17 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-riscv-6.8 Package: linux-riscv-7.0 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Package: linux-xilinx Package: linux-xilinx-zynqmp Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet

tcf_ct_handle_fragments() runs its header sanity checks before handing
anything to the defragmentation engine:

if (family == NFPROTO_IPV4)
err = tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment(skb, &frag);
else
err = tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(skb, &frag);
if (err || !frag)
return err;

tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment() returns -EINVAL or -ENOMEM;
tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment() adds -EPROTO when ipv6_find_hdr() fails. None of
them frees or queues the skb, so on that path the caller still owns it.

tcf_ct_act() however funnels every non-zero return into the
ownership-transfer exit:

err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag);
if (err)
goto out_frag;
...
out_frag:
if (err != -EINPROGRESS)
tcf_action_inc_drop_qstats(&c->common);
return TC_ACT_CONSUMED;

TC_ACT_CONSUMED means the action took ownership of the skb, so no caller
frees it - sch_handle_ingress(), sch_handle_egress() and
tcf_qevent_handle() all deliberately skip the free for that verdict. The
skb is therefore orphaned: one sk_buff plus its data buffer is leaked per
malformed packet, unbounded. Note the drop counter is already incremented
for these errors, so the statistics claim a drop that never happens.

Three different ownership states reach out_frag: today - the skb may be
queued by the defrag engine (-EINPROGRESS), already freed by
nf_ct_handle_fragments(), or still owned by us. Tell the caller which of
those it is, and free the packet ourselves in the last case, which
restores the TC_ACT_SHOT behaviour that predated the Fixes: commit.

Reproduced on v7.2-rc6 with a 54-byte frame carrying a 40-byte IPv6
header with nexthdr = 0 (hop-by-hop) and nothing after it, on a
clsact ingress chain with "action ct". kmemleak reports one leaked
232-byte skbuff_head_cache object plus its 704-byte data buffer per
packet; with this patch it reports none.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.15.148 – < 5.15.217, 6.1.75 – < 6.1.184, 6.6.14 – < 6.6.152, 6.7.2 – < 6.8, 6.8 5.15.217

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 7.1.9-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.105-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.1.187-1 —
Debian 12 linux-6.12 6.12.107-1~deb12u1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield 6.8.0-1036.41 —
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield 5.15.0-1103.105 —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux 7.0.0-42.42 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-aws 7.0.0-1016.17 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-azure 7.0.0-1020.21 USN-9019-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 7.0.0-1019.19 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-gcp 7.0.0-1016.18 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-gke 7.0.0-1010.11 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 7.0.0-1017.17 USN-8960-1, USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-nvidia +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-oracle 7.0.0-1015.16 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-raspi 7.0.0-1023.23 USN-9021-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-realtime 7.0.0-43.43.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-riscv 7.0.0-42.42.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux 6.8.0-149.149 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws 6.8.0-1069.74 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws-7.0 7.0.0-1017.18~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure 6.8.0-1073.82 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 6.8.0-1071.78 USN-9039-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-7.0 7.0.0-1019.19~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp 6.8.0-1073.81 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-7.0 7.0.0-1017.19~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gke 6.8.0-1068.77 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gkeop 6.8.0-1053.57 USN-9023-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-7.0 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-ibm 6.8.0-1069.70 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 6.8.0-149.149.1 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia 6.8.0-1067.70 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-lowlatency 6.8.0-1067.70.1 USN-9040-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1036.39 USN-8886-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle 6.8.0-1067.71 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle-7.0 7.0.0-1016.18~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-raspi 6.8.0-1068.72 USN-9025-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv +31 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv-7.0 7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-vmware 6.8.0-1010.10 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux 5.15.0-202.212 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws 5.15.0-1119.126 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-aws-6.8 6.8.0-1069.74~22.04.1 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure 5.15.0-1125.134 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-6.8 6.8.0-1073.82~22.04.1 USN-9026-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 5.15.0-1124.133 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-6.8 6.8.0-1071.78~22.04.1 USN-9026-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp 5.15.0-1120.130 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-6.8 6.8.0-1073.81~22.04.1 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gke 5.15.0-1115.121 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-gkeop 5.15.0-1102.110 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-149.149~22.04.1 USN-9066-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm 5.15.0-1113.117 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-ibm-6.8 6.8.0-1069.70~22.04.1 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg 5.15.0-1114.120 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-kvm 5.15.0-1111.116 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency 5.15.0-197.207 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.8 6.8.0-149.149.1~22.04.1 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia 5.15.0-1114.115 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 5.15.0-1070.72 USN-8963-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-igx 5.15.0-1059.59 USN-8963-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle 5.15.0-1116.122 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-oracle-6.8 6.8.0-1067.71~22.04.1 USN-9025-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-raspi 5.15.0-1113.116 USN-9029-1
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +34 No fix yet —
Show 8 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-raspi-realtime 6.8.0-2056.58 USN-9025-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime 6.8.1-1064.65 USN-9023-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 24.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.14 +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-intel-iot-realtime 5.15.0-1111.115 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime 5.15.0-1118.127 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime-6.8 6.8.1-1064.65~22.04.1 USN-9024-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 6.8.0-1069.74+fips1 USN-9023-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 6.8.0-1073.82+fips1 USN-9022-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 6.8.0-1073.81+fips1 USN-9023-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-aws-fips 5.15.0-1119.126+fips1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-azure-fips 5.15.0-1125.134+fips1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips 5.15.0-202.212+fips1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-gcp-fips 5.15.0-1120.130+fips1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-aws-5.15 5.15.0-1119.126~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-azure-5.15 5.15.0-1125.134~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-5.15 5.15.0-1124.133~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-gcp-5.15 5.15.0-1120.130~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-hwe-5.15 5.15.0-202.212~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-ibm-5.15 5.15.0-1113.117~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-intel-iotg-5.15 5.15.0-1114.120~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.15 5.15.0-197.207~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra-5.15 5.15.0-1070.72~20.04.1 USN-8963-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-oracle-5.15 5.15.0-1116.122~20.04.1 USN-8961-1
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux-riscv-5.15 5.15.0-1113.117~20.04.2 —

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 kernel 6.6.152.1-1 —

Oracle Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Oracle Linux 9 kernel-uek +34 6.12.0-206.104.3.3.el10uek ELSA-2026-500374, ELSA-2026-500248
Oracle Linux 8 bpftool +18 5.15.0-324.217.5.2.el9uek ELSA-2026-500377, ELSA-2026-500249

Advisories 22

References