CVE-2026-23458 PUBLISHED

netfilter: ctnetlink: fix use-after-free in ctnetlink_dump_exp_ct()

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 13.01.2026 Published: 03.04.2026 Updated: 03.04.2026

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

netfilter: ctnetlink: fix use-after-free in ctnetlink_dump_exp_ct()

ctnetlink_dump_exp_ct() stores a conntrack pointer in cb->data for the netlink dump callback ctnetlink_exp_ct_dump_table(), but drops the conntrack reference immediately after netlink_dump_start(). When the dump spans multiple rounds, the second recvmsg() triggers the dump callback which dereferences the now-freed conntrack via nfct_help(ct), leading to a use-after-free on ct->ext.

The bug is that the netlink_dump_control has no .start or .done callbacks to manage the conntrack reference across dump rounds. Other dump functions in the same file (e.g. ctnetlink_get_conntrack) properly use .start/.done callbacks for this purpose.

Fix this by adding .start and .done callbacks that hold and release the conntrack reference for the duration of the dump, and move the nfct_help() call after the cb->args[0] early-return check in the dump callback to avoid dereferencing ct->ext unnecessarily.

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ctnetlink_exp_ct_dump_table+0x4f/0x2e0 Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810597ebf0 by task ctnetlink_poc/133

CPU: 1 UID: 0 PID: 133 Comm: ctnetlink_poc Not tainted 7.0.0-rc2+ #3 PREEMPTLAZY Call Trace: <TASK> ctnetlink_exp_ct_dump_table+0x4f/0x2e0 netlink_dump+0x333/0x880 netlink_recvmsg+0x3e2/0x4b0 ? aa_sk_perm+0x184/0x450 sock_recvmsg+0xde/0xf0

Allocated by task 133: kmem_cache_alloc_noprof+0x134/0x440 __nf_conntrack_alloc+0xa8/0x2b0 ctnetlink_create_conntrack+0xa1/0x900 ctnetlink_new_conntrack+0x3cf/0x7d0 nfnetlink_rcv_msg+0x48e/0x510 netlink_rcv_skb+0xc9/0x1f0 nfnetlink_rcv+0xdb/0x220 netlink_unicast+0x3ec/0x590 netlink_sendmsg+0x397/0x690 __sys_sendmsg+0xf4/0x180

Freed by task 0: slab_free_after_rcu_debug+0xad/0x1e0 rcu_core+0x5c3/0x9c0

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to bdf2724eefd4455a66863abb025bab8d3aa98c57 (excl.)
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to f04cc86d59906513d2d62183b882966fc0ae0390 (excl.)
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to f025171feef2ac65663d7986f1d5ff0c28d6b2a9 (excl.)
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to 04c8907ce4e3d3e26c5e1a3e47aa5d17082cbb56 (excl.)
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to cd541f15b60e2257441398cf495d978f816d09f8 (excl.)
  • affected from e844a928431fa8f1359d1f4f2cef53d9b446bf52 to 5cb81eeda909dbb2def209dd10636b51549a3f8a (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.10 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.10 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.167 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.130 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.78 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.20 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.19.10 to 6.19.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.0-rc5 to * (incl.)

References