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Unscored CVE-2026-98284 EUVD-2026-93212GHSA-x7q6-9x5c-r9x7

netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it

Published Oct 6, 2026 · Updated Oct 19, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: kernel Package: linux Package: linux 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-5.4 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-aws-hwe Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-4.15 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-5.4 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-4.15 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-5.4 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-5.4 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-5.4 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-iot 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-lts-xenial 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-5.4 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-5.4 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:

netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it

netlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().
Whenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old
bitmap is freed immediately.

Two readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink
table lock:

1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the
rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.
Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.

2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been
lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 ("netlink: Lockless lookup with
RCU grace period in socket release").

Both can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read
past the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old
@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the
result into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.

This is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee ("netlink:
access nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname") fixed for bind()
and getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table
lock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also
called with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the
dump.

Make the lockless readers safe instead:

- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,
instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().

- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have
the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair
the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader
picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is
guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.

netlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and
setsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table
has been released.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 4.0 7.2.8

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 7.2.8-1 —
Debian 13 linux No fix yet —
Debian 12 linux No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 24.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
Ubuntu Nvidia-BlueField 22.04 LTS linux-bluefield No fix yet —
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 +46 No fix yet —
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-fde-7.0 7.0.0-1019.19~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-gcp-7.0 7.0.0-1017.19~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-hwe-7.0 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1 USN-8959-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-oracle-7.0 7.0.0-1016.18~24.04.1 USN-9020-1
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-riscv-7.0 7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1 —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux +59 No fix yet —
Show 18 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-realtime +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro Realtime 22.04 LTS linux-realtime +2 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 24.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 16.04 LTS linux-fips No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro FIPS-preview 22.04 LTS linux-fips +3 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS linux +21 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS linux +12 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS linux +7 No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS linux-aws +2 No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed kernel-source 7.2.10-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:12131-1

Azure Linux

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Azure Linux 3 kernel No fix yet —

Advisories 7

References