RHSA-2026:81371 - Security Advisory

Topic

An update for kernel-rt is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extended Lifecycle Support.

Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Important. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.

Description

The kernel-rt packages provide the Real Time Linux Kernel, which enables fine-tuning for systems with extremely high determinism requirements.

Security Fix(es):

• kernel: netfilter: conntrack: remove sprintf usage (CVE-2026-53002)
• kernel: netfilter: synproxy: refresh tcphdr after skb_ensure_writable (CVE-2026-64007)
• kernel: vhost: reset the vring metadata cache on vring reconfiguration (CVE-2026-74580)
• kernel: udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation (CVE-2026-74705)

Bug Fix(es) and Enhancement(s):

• kernel: vhost: reset the vring metadata cache on vring reconfiguration [rhel-7.9.z] (JIRA:RHEL-224557)

For more details about the security issue(s), including the impact, a CVSS score, acknowledgments, and other related information, refer to the CVE page(s) listed in the References section.

Solution

For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes described in this advisory, refer to:

https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

The system must be rebooted for this update to take effect.

Red Hat recommends treating all kernel errata as security-relevant. Given the kernel's fundamental role, any bug has a higher chance of impacting system security, even if that impact only becomes clear after a fix is published. Therefore, Red Hat prioritizes delivering fixes that improve our customers' overall security posture.

Because of this proactive approach, a patch may be associated with a CVE assignment at a future date. Retroactive CVE assignments are always documented in the corresponding errata and on Red Hat's CVE pages. We strongly advise against delaying updates, as doing so may leave your system exposed when protections are already available.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for x86_64 - Extended Life Cycle Support 7 x86_64

Fixes

• BZ - 2492329 - CVE-2026-53002 kernel: netfilter: conntrack: remove sprintf usage
• BZ - 2502361 - CVE-2026-64007 kernel: netfilter: synproxy: refresh tcphdr after skb_ensure_writable
• BZ - 2521055 - CVE-2026-74580 kernel: vhost: reset the vring metadata cache on vring reconfiguration
• BZ - 2521498 - CVE-2026-74705 kernel: udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation

CVEs

• CVE-2026-53002
• CVE-2026-64007
• CVE-2026-74580
• CVE-2026-74705

References

• https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#important