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Critical · 9.8 CVE-2026-80668 EUVD-2026-67544GHSA-fpgw-998r-pg47

netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: use conntrack GC to reap expectations

Published Aug 28, 2026 · Updated Nov 6, 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-5.19 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-7.0 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 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-7.0 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde 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-7.0 Package: linux-azure-nvidia-6.14 Package: linux-bluefield Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 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-7.0 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-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.11 Package: linux-hwe-6.14 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-7.0 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-ibm Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime 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-nvidia Package: linux-nvidia-6.11 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-7.0 Package: linux-nvidia-bos Package: linux-nvidia-tegra 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-6.5 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-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-oracle-6.14 Package: linux-oracle-6.17 Package: linux-oracle-6.5 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-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 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-7.0 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Package: linux-vmware Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Azure Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

netfilter: nf_conntrack_expect: use conntrack GC to reap expectations

This patch replaces the timer API by GC worker approach for
expectations, as it already happened in many other subsystems.

Use the existing conntrack GC worker to iterate over the local list of
expectations in the master conntrack to reap expired expectations.
Check IPS_HELPER_BIT to run GC for expectations, set it on for nft_ct
expectation which nevers sets it. Hold the expectation spinlock while
iterating over the master conntrack expectation list to synchronize with
nf_ct_remove_expectations(). This also performs runtime packet path
garbage collection through the expectation insertion and lookup
functions while walking over one of the chains of the global expectation
hashtables. Unconfirmed conntrack entries are skipped since ct->ext can
be reallocated and dying are skipped since those will be gone soon.
Set on IPS_HELPER_BIT if the helper ct extension is added, then the new
GC worker does not need to bump the ct refcount to check if the ct->ext
helper is available.

This removes the extra bump on the refcount for expectation timers, this
allows to remove several nf_ct_expect_put() calls after the unlink,
after this update only refcount remains at 1 while on the expectation
hashes.

This patch implicitly addresses a race with the existing timer API
allowing an expectation to access a stale exp->master pointer which has
been already released when expectation removal loses races with an
expiring timer, ie. timer_del() reporting false.

Add a new NF_CT_EXPECT_DEAD flag to reap this expectation via GC. This
is needed by nf_conntrack_unexpect_related() which is called in error
paths to invalidate newly created expectations that has been added into
the hashes. These expectactions cannot be inmediately released as GC or
nf_ct_remove_expectations() could race to make it. On expectation
insert, the runtime GC reaps stale expectations before checking the
expectation limit set by policy.

Set current timestamp in nf_ct_expect_alloc(), then add the expectation
policy timeout (or custom timeout specified added on top of this) to
specify the expectation lifetime.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 6.1.176 – < 6.1.191, 6.6.143 – < 6.6.160, 6.12.94 – < 6.12.114, 6.18.24 – < 6.18.61, 6.19.14 – < 6.20, 7.0 6.1.191

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 7.1.5-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.12.115-2 —
Debian 12 linux No fix yet —
Debian 12 linux-6.12 6.12.115-2~deb12u1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux 7.0.0-38.38 USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-aws +1 7.0.0-1014.14 USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-azure 7.0.0-1017.17 USN-8888-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-azure-fde 7.0.0-1016.16 USN-8888-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-gke 7.0.0-1008.9 USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-ibm +1 7.0.0-1015.15 USN-8889-1, USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-nvidia 7.0.0-1025.26 USN-9043-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-nvidia-bos 7.0.0-2022.23 USN-9003-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-oracle 7.0.0-1013.13 USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-raspi 7.0.0-1023.23 USN-9021-1
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS linux-riscv +1 7.0.0-38.38.1 USN-8887-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux +27 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-aws-7.0 +1 7.0.0-1014.14~24.04.1 USN-8887-3, USN-8887-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-7.0 7.0.0-1017.17~24.04.1 USN-8888-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-azure-fde-7.0 7.0.0-1016.16~24.04.1 USN-8888-2
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-7.0 7.0.0-38.38~24.04.4 USN-8887-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-7.0 7.0.0-1024.25~24.04.1 USN-9003-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-nvidia-tegra 6.8.0-1038.42 USN-9002-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle-7.0 7.0.0-1013.13~24.04.1 USN-8887-3
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv-7.0 7.0.0-38.38.1~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
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-realtime-6.14 +1 No fix yet —

Amazon Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Amazon Linux 2023 kernel-livepatch-6.12.114-139.210 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3402
Amazon Linux 2023 perf6.12 +11 1:6.12.114-139.210.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3402

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 kernel No fix yet —

Advisories 12

References