CVE-2026-23231 PUBLISHED

netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nf_tables_addchain()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.01.2026 Published: 04.03.2026 Updated: 04.03.2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nf_tables_addchain()

nf_tables_addchain() publishes the chain to table->chains via list_add_tail_rcu() (in nft_chain_add()) before registering hooks. If nf_tables_register_hook() then fails, the error path calls nft_chain_del() (list_del_rcu()) followed by nf_tables_chain_destroy() with no RCU grace period in between.

This creates two use-after-free conditions:

1) Control-plane: nf_tables_dump_chains() traverses table->chains under rcu_read_lock(). A concurrent dump can still be walking the chain when the error path frees it.

2) Packet path: for NFPROTO_INET, nf_register_net_hook() briefly installs the IPv4 hook before IPv6 registration fails. Packets entering nft_do_chain() via the transient IPv4 hook can still be dereferencing chain->blob_gen_X when the error path frees the chain.

Add synchronize_rcu() between nft_chain_del() and the chain destroy so that all RCU readers -- both dump threads and in-flight packet evaluation -- have finished before the chain is freed.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to 2a6586ecfa4ce1413daaafee250d2590e05f1a33 (excl.)
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to 7017745068a9068904e1e7a1b170a5785647cc81 (excl.)
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to f3fe58ce37926a10115ede527d59b91bcc05400a (excl.)
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to dbd0af8083dd201f07c49110b2ee93710abdff28 (excl.)
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to 2f9a4ffeb763aec822f8ff3d1e82202d27d46d4b (excl.)
  • affected from 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to 71e99ee20fc3f662555118cf1159443250647533 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.16 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.16 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.165 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.128 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.75 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.14 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.4 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0-rc1 to * (incl.)

References