CVE-2026-98441
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's traffic control conntrack action module (act_ct). An attacker capable of sending network traffic through affected packet filters could trigger a Denial of Service (DoS) or kernel memory corruption. This issue arises when cloned network packets sharing an unconfirmed connection tracking entry are modified, corrupting extension pointers during packet processing. This improper handling results in a use-after-free (UAF) condition upon cleanup, causing the operating system to crash.
Statement
This flaw is rated as Moderate severity rather than Important because exploitation requires a specialized traffic control configuration utilizing cloned packets alongside connection tracking actions, constraining the blast radius primarily to a denial of service. The affected traffic control conntrack action is not active in default Red Hat Enterprise Linux networking deployments. Exploiting this issue requires local administrative privileges to establish the requisite packet scheduling rules or a highly specific network pipeline capable of inducing the race condition.
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 | 4.7 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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