CVE-2026-98626 PUBLISHED

bpf: Restrict CO-RE poisoning to relocatable instructions

Assigner: Linux
Reserved: 25.09.2026 Published: 18.10.2026 Updated: 18.10.2026

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

bpf: Restrict CO-RE poisoning to relocatable instructions

CO-RE relocation records can name any instruction offset. When a relocation cannot be resolved, bpf_core_patch_insn() currently poisons its target before checking whether that instruction is a valid relocation target. Malformed metadata can therefore replace jumps, calls, exits, register-source arithmetic, or non-immediate loads instead of failing at the relocation step.

Handle poisoning only after the instruction has passed the same class and operand-form checks used for a resolved relocation. Route invalid forms through the existing diagnostic and return a hard error. Keep poisoning supported instructions, including both halves of a plain ldimm64, so an unresolved relocation in dead code remains valid.

Extend bpf_core_poison_insn() to poison both halves of ldimm64, and return its status directly from each validated instruction case. This avoids routing the success path through a common label and leaves the helper free to report errors.

The shared relocation code applies this restriction to both libbpf and in-kernel CO-RE.

Product Status

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to a8c47e62d9aea2d47a09e06c1682c59c21b92449 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to d3219c229d16900cef936adad28633c98946e432 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to a0b79cdfcf34b53c85bac2d3cf022fc1342eeca0 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to f2a24101e89dd0804e717da7c1bd6af513698aa2 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to 2d7d04357c41aa49a5ac658fcc207439f2ad6456 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to 8e4cbcca1e0a2fc5e6c8edb68e0cf5f2587f9319 (excl.)
  • affected from d7a252708dbc950ca2064310217e8b9f85846e2f to 394ae398337c5f87e567f6cd63b937fc2b2f6ddc (excl.)
Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Versions Default: affected
  • Version 5.6 is affected
  • unaffected from 0 to 5.6 (excl.)
  • unaffected from 5.15.222 to 5.15.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.1.189 to 6.1.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.6.158 to 6.6.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.12.112 to 6.12.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 6.18.55 to 6.18.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.2.9 to 7.2.* (incl.)
  • unaffected from 7.3-rc5 to * (incl.)

References