CVE-2026-72423 (GCVE-0-2026-72423)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-08-15 05:56
Modified
2026-08-17 05:44
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: Guard conntrack opts error writes
The conntrack lookup and allocation kfuncs take an opts pointer
together with an opts__sz argument. The verifier checks only the memory
range described by opts__sz, but the wrappers unconditionally write
opts->error whenever the internal lookup or allocation helper returns an
error.
For an invalid size smaller than the end of opts->error, that write can
land outside the verifier-checked range. Keep returning NULL for invalid
arguments, but only report the error through opts->error when the
supplied size includes the field.
This preserves error reporting for the supported 12-byte and 16-byte
layouts, and for other invalid sizes that still include opts->error.
References
Impacted products
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
{
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_bpf.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"lessThan": "dd74c80203842a21b2ebb9f70d1260d9aa20fa05",
"status": "affected",
"version": "b4c2b9593a1c4c3a718370e34af28e817fd5e5c6",
"versionType": "git"
},
{
"lessThan": "6f6183a39533d727deaa5061cadae6dd9e6744d0",
"status": "affected",
"version": "b4c2b9593a1c4c3a718370e34af28e817fd5e5c6",
"versionType": "git"
}
]
},
{
"defaultStatus": "affected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"net/netfilter/nf_conntrack_bpf.c"
],
"repo": "https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git",
"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "5.18"
},
{
"lessThan": "5.18",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.1.5",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
}
]
}
],
"cpeApplicability": [
{
"nodes": [
{
"cpeMatch": [
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.1.5",
"versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
"vulnerable": true
},
{
"criteria": "cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"versionEndExcluding": "7.2",
"versionStartIncluding": "5.18",
"vulnerable": true
}
],
"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
}
]
}
],
"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nbpf: Guard conntrack opts error writes\n\nThe conntrack lookup and allocation kfuncs take an opts pointer\ntogether with an opts__sz argument. The verifier checks only the memory\nrange described by opts__sz, but the wrappers unconditionally write\nopts-\u003eerror whenever the internal lookup or allocation helper returns an\nerror.\n\nFor an invalid size smaller than the end of opts-\u003eerror, that write can\nland outside the verifier-checked range. Keep returning NULL for invalid\narguments, but only report the error through opts-\u003eerror when the\nsupplied size includes the field.\n\nThis preserves error reporting for the supported 12-byte and 16-byte\nlayouts, and for other invalid sizes that still include opts-\u003eerror."
}
],
"metrics": [
{
"cvssV3_1": {
"baseScore": 8.8,
"baseSeverity": "HIGH",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"scenarios": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "AV:L - Exploitation requires loading and attaching a BPF XDP or TC program that calls the conntrack kfuncs via the bpf() syscall; per kernel CNA guidance BPF/netfilter paths are Local even when programs later run on network packets.\nAC:L - An attacker reliably triggers the bug by calling bpf_xdp_ct_lookup/alloc or bpf_skb_ct_lookup/alloc with opts__sz smaller than the error field (e.g. 4); the helper returns EINVAL and the wrapper performs the out-of-bounds write with no races or attacker-uncontrollable conditions.\nPR:L - Loading BPF_PROG_TYPE_XDP or BPF_PROG_TYPE_SCHED_CLS programs requires CAP_NET_ADMIN, which unprivileged users can obtain inside user/network namespaces (unshare -Urn) on typical Linux deployments without init-namespace root.\nUI:N - No victim interaction is required; the attacker loads their own BPF program and invokes the kfunc with a small opts__sz to trigger the out-of-bounds write on demand.\nS:C - Corrupting kernel memory via a verifier-bypassing BPF stack write from a user/network namespace can cross the namespace/container trust boundary to compromise the host kernel, exceeding the attacker\u0027s original security scope.\nC:H - The bug is a controlled 4-byte out-of-bounds write past the verifier-approved opts buffer on the BPF stack, a memory-corruption primitive that can be leveraged for arbitrary kernel memory disclosure.\nI:H - Writing opts-\u003eerror outside the verifier-checked range corrupts adjacent BPF stack slots with attacker-influenced errno values, enabling heap/stack grooming and control-flow hijacking toward arbitrary kernel code execution.\nA:H - Corrupting BPF stack memory outside verifier bounds can cause immediate kernel oops/panic or be used in a repeatable crash/DoS loop when the attached XDP/TC program runs on incoming traffic."
}
]
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:44:03.898Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dd74c80203842a21b2ebb9f70d1260d9aa20fa05"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6f6183a39533d727deaa5061cadae6dd9e6744d0"
}
],
"title": "bpf: Guard conntrack opts error writes",
"x_generator": {
"engine": "bippy-1.2.0"
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-72423",
"datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:56:41.711Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.928Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:44:03.898Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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