CVE-2026-97616 PUBLISHED

net/sched: act_api: release all action references on NEWACTION failure

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 24.09.2026 Published: 25.09.2026 Updated: 25.09.2026

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

net/sched: act_api: release all action references on NEWACTION failure

When a batched RTM_NEWACTION request replaces an existing action, tcf_idr_check_alloc() takes a temporary reference on it. If a later action fails to initialize, tcf_action_destroy() uses strict release semantics to clean up the actions initialized so far. For an action bound to a filter, the strict check returns -EPERM without dropping the temporary reference.

This error also makes tcf_action_destroy() return before releasing subsequent entries. Any new action initialized between the bound action and the failing entry is leaked together with its reserved IDR slot, preventing reuse of its index.

Use tcf_idr_release() to drop each reference held by the batch without rejecting bound actions. This allows cleanup to continue through all initialized entries and preserves the module reference release when an action is destroyed. Explicit action deletion and flushing retain their separate bind-count checks.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 55334a5db5cd32b207ac697cec3ec8e078f345d4 to f908c8a969946a45225fd7f9d9a85771e12ae0a8 (excl.)
  • affected from 55334a5db5cd32b207ac697cec3ec8e078f345d4 to 64b36eaef6ea5ada9aea4c2cf87099aaa8a4869b (excl.)
  • affected from 55334a5db5cd32b207ac697cec3ec8e078f345d4 to 048617743febf6530111cfb594e9bbbd7918bf67 (excl.)
  • affected from 55334a5db5cd32b207ac697cec3ec8e078f345d4 to 478eb5abb51931a152abab068f8a717b7ff480fd (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 3.15 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 3.15 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.111 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.53 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.7 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc3 to * (incl.)

References