CVE-2026-98037
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) verifier. An improper validation check fails to reject untrusted allocated-object pointers after their protection scope expires, incorrectly recognizing them as valid live objects. A local user with permissions to load BPF programs can exploit this issue to pass invalid pointers to kernel functions, causing the kernel to dereference freed or null memory. This can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS) via a system crash or potential memory corruption.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity rather than Important because successful exploitation requires local system access and elevated privileges to load extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) programs. Under default configurations in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, unprivileged eBPF is disabled, ensuring that standard unprivileged users cannot reach the vulnerable verifier logic. Consequently, an attacker must already possess administrative capabilities such as CAP_BPF or CAP_SYS_ADMIN to induce a kernel crash or cause memory corruption.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Memory
If the expired pointer is used in a read operation, an attacker might be able to control data read in by the application.
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
If the expired pointer references a memory location that is not accessible to the product, or points to a location that is "malformed" (such as NULL) or larger than expected by a read or write operation, then a crash may occur.
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
If the expired pointer is used in a function call, or points to unexpected data in a write operation, then code execution may be possible.
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