{"api_version":"1","generated_at":"2026-10-21T23:06:33+00:00","cve":"CVE-2026-98284","urls":{"html":"https://cve.report/CVE-2026-98284","api":"https://cve.report/api/cve/CVE-2026-98284.json","docs":"https://cve.report/api","cve_org":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98284","nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98284"},"summary":{"title":"netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().\nWhenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old\nbitmap is freed immediately.\n\nTwo readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink\ntable lock:\n\n1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the\n   rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.\n   Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.\n\n2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been\n   lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 (\"netlink: Lockless lookup with\n   RCU grace period in socket release\").\n\nBoth can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read\npast the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old\n@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the\nresult into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.\n\nThis is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee (\"netlink:\naccess nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname\") fixed for bind()\nand getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table\nlock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also\ncalled with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the\ndump.\n\nMake the lockless readers safe instead:\n\n- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,\n  instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().\n\n- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have\n  the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair\n  the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader\n  picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is\n  guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and\nsetsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table\nhas been released.","state":"PUBLISHED","assigner":"Linux","published_at":"2026-10-06 09:18:18","updated_at":"2026-10-19 10:18:29"},"problem_types":[],"metrics":[],"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651","name":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651","refsource":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","tags":[],"title":"","mime":"","httpstatus":"","archivestatus":"0"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f","name":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f","refsource":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","tags":[],"title":"","mime":"","httpstatus":"","archivestatus":"0"},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98284","name":"CVE Program record","refsource":"CVE.ORG","tags":["canonical"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98284","name":"NVD vulnerability detail","refsource":"NVD","tags":["canonical","analysis"]}],"affected":[{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"affected 21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7 22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f git","platforms":[]},{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"affected 21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7 ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651 git","platforms":[]},{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"affected 4.0","platforms":[]},{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"unaffected 4.0 semver","platforms":[]},{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"unaffected 7.2.8 7.2.* semver","platforms":[]},{"source":"CNA","vendor":"Linux","product":"Linux","version":"unaffected 7.3 * original_commit_for_fix","platforms":[]}],"timeline":[],"solutions":[],"workarounds":[],"exploits":[],"credits":[],"nvd_cpes":[],"vendor_comments":[],"enrichments":{"kev":null,"epss":{"cve_year":"2026","cve_id":"98284","cve":"CVE-2026-98284","epss":"0.001620000","percentile":"0.048420000","score_date":"2026-10-06","updated_at":"2026-10-07 00:14:55"},"legacy_qids":[]},"source_records":{"cve_program":{"containers":{"cna":{"affected":[{"defaultStatus":"unaffected","product":"Linux","programFiles":["net/netlink/af_netlink.c","net/netlink/diag.c"],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","vendor":"Linux","versions":[{"lessThan":"22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f","status":"affected","version":"21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7","versionType":"git"},{"lessThan":"ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651","status":"affected","version":"21e4902aea80ef35afc00ee8d2abdea4f519b7f7","versionType":"git"}]},{"defaultStatus":"affected","product":"Linux","programFiles":["net/netlink/af_netlink.c","net/netlink/diag.c"],"repo":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git","vendor":"Linux","versions":[{"status":"affected","version":"4.0"},{"lessThan":"4.0","status":"unaffected","version":"0","versionType":"semver"},{"lessThanOrEqual":"7.2.*","status":"unaffected","version":"7.2.8","versionType":"semver"},{"lessThanOrEqual":"*","status":"unaffected","version":"7.3","versionType":"original_commit_for_fix"}]}],"cpeApplicability":[{"nodes":[{"cpeMatch":[{"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionEndExcluding":"7.2.8","versionStartIncluding":"4.0","vulnerable":true},{"criteria":"cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","versionEndExcluding":"7.3","versionStartIncluding":"4.0","vulnerable":true}],"negate":false,"operator":"OR"}]}],"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().\nWhenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old\nbitmap is freed immediately.\n\nTwo readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink\ntable lock:\n\n1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the\n   rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.\n   Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.\n\n2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been\n   lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 (\"netlink: Lockless lookup with\n   RCU grace period in socket release\").\n\nBoth can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read\npast the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old\n@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the\nresult into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.\n\nThis is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee (\"netlink:\naccess nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname\") fixed for bind()\nand getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table\nlock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also\ncalled with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the\ndump.\n\nMake the lockless readers safe instead:\n\n- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,\n  instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().\n\n- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have\n  the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair\n  the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader\n  picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is\n  guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and\nsetsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table\nhas been released."}],"providerMetadata":{"dateUpdated":"2026-10-19T09:16:55.695Z","orgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","shortName":"Linux"},"references":[{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/22f313e211d58a66786c81487c3905fa5d4b2a8f"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ceac0de741bfb47ca255eee075257b3bb31f0651"}],"title":"netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it","x_generator":{"engine":"bippy-1.2.0"}}},"cveMetadata":{"assignerOrgId":"416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67","assignerShortName":"Linux","cveId":"CVE-2026-98284","datePublished":"2026-10-06T08:45:45.443Z","dateReserved":"2026-09-25T10:25:14.335Z","dateUpdated":"2026-10-19T09:16:55.695Z","state":"PUBLISHED"},"dataType":"CVE_RECORD","dataVersion":"5.2"},"nvd":{"publishedDate":"2026-10-06 09:18:18","lastModifiedDate":"2026-10-19 10:18:29","problem_types":[],"metrics":[],"configurations":[]},"legacy_mitre":{"record":{"CveYear":"2026","CveId":"98284","Ordinal":"1","Title":"netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use ","CVE":"CVE-2026-98284","Year":"2026"},"notes":[{"CveYear":"2026","CveId":"98284","Ordinal":"1","NoteData":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnetlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use it\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() uses krealloc() under netlink_table_grab().\nWhenever NLGRPSZ(groups) lands in a different kmalloc bucket, the old\nbitmap is freed immediately.\n\nTwo readers of nlk->groups / nlk->ngroups do not hold the netlink\ntable lock:\n\n1) sk_diag_dump_groups(). Hashed (bound) sockets are dumped from the\n   rhashtable walk in __netlink_diag_dump(), which only holds RCU.\n   Only the mc_list part of the dump takes nl_table_lock.\n\n2) netlink_native_seq_show() (/proc/net/netlink), whose walk has been\n   lockless since commit 21e4902aea80 (\"netlink: Lockless lookup with\n   RCU grace period in socket release\").\n\nBoth can read a freed buffer, and sk_diag_dump_groups() can also read\npast the end of the old (smaller) buffer if it happens to load the old\n@groups pointer together with the new @ngroups value, copying the\nresult into a NETLINK_DIAG_GROUPS attribute.\n\nThis is the same class of bug that commit f773608026ee (\"netlink:\naccess nlk groups safely in netlink bind and getname\") fixed for bind()\nand getname(); these two readers were missed. Simply grabbing the table\nlock in sk_diag_dump_groups() is not an option, because it is also\ncalled with nl_table_lock already held from the mc_list section of the\ndump.\n\nMake the lockless readers safe instead:\n\n- Allocate a new bitmap and free the old one after an RCU grace period,\n  instead of relying on the implicit kfree() done by krealloc().\n\n- Publish @groups before @ngroups, both with release semantics, and have\n  the lockless readers load @ngroups first. A reader can then never pair\n  the new (bigger) size with the old (smaller) buffer, and a reader\n  picking up the new pointer while still seeing the old size is\n  guaranteed to see the initialized bitmap.\n\nnetlink_realloc_groups() is called from process context (bind() and\nsetsockopt()), so kfree_rcu_mightsleep() can be used, once the table\nhas been released.","Type":"Description","Title":"netlink: do not free nlk->groups while lockless readers can use "}]}}}