CVE-2026-98370
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) subsystem. A local attacker can exploit this issue by submitting 32-bit compatibility requests, which triggers a race condition during message translation. This flaw leads to a use-after-free condition, potentially allowing an attacker to escalate privileges or cause a system crash resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).
Statement
Red Hat Product Security rates this vulnerability as Moderate because exploitation requires local access with specialized network socket privileges or user namespaces, and it is constrained to 32-bit compatibility workloads racing against multicast netlink message translation. An authenticated local attacker would need to craft specific 32-bit compatibility SPI allocation requests to induce the use-after-free scenario, limiting remote attack vectors and requiring precise timing. This issue impacts Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 and 10, while Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 and 8 remain unaffected because the vulnerable code was introduced in upstream kernel versions newer than their baseline branches.
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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