CVE-2026-98099 PUBLISHED

ipv6: mcast: use rcu_assign_pointer() for __rcu list updates

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

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

ipv6: mcast: use rcu_assign_pointer() for __rcu list updates

Several places in net/ipv6/mcast.c update RCU-protected lists (np->ipv6_mc_list, idev->mc_list, idev->mc_tomb) using direct pointer assignments instead of rcu_assign_pointer():

  1. In __ipv6_dev_mc_dec(), unlinking a group from idev->mc_list did: *map = ma->next; without rcu_assign_pointer() while concurrent readers traverse idev->mc_list locklessly under rcu_read_lock().
  2. In ipv6_sock_mc_drop() and __ipv6_sock_mc_close(), unlinking a group from np->ipv6_mc_list directly assigned *lnk = mc_lst->next and np->ipv6_mc_list = mc_lst->next without rcu_assign_pointer(), racing with lockless readers in inet6_mc_check().
  3. In __ipv6_sock_mc_join(), mc_lst->next was initialized to np->ipv6_mc_list via raw assignment before publishing mc_lst.
  4. In mld_del_delrec() and __ipv6_dev_mc_inc(), __rcu source pointers passed into rcu_assign_pointer() lacked explicit dereference helpers.

Fix these by consistently using rcu_assign_pointer() along with mc_dereference() / sock_dereference().

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 456b61bca8ee324ab6c18b065e632c9a8c88aa39 to 2e46b0c9fcf7e10b64ce1630b925f47918d1f7f6 (excl.)
  • affected from 456b61bca8ee324ab6c18b065e632c9a8c88aa39 to 0c8f56c583c3250408367880c98e4d6fbc929315 (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 2.6.38 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 2.6.38 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.7 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc2 to * (incl.)

References