CVE-2026-89488

openvswitch: Fix CT limit teardown use-after-free

HIGH
7.8
CVSS Score
Published: September 11, 2026 at 07:43 PM UTC
Updated: October 19, 2026 at 09:17 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

Using Linux by Linux?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Linux - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
HIGH7.8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.1%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: openvswitch: Fix CT limit teardown use-after-free Packet processing uses CT limit state under RCU, while netns teardown frees that state under ovs_mutex. The CT limit pointer was neither removed from readers nor protected by a grace period, allowing packet processing to dereference the freed state. An unprivileged user can trigger this bug from a user and network namespace, causing a slab-use-after-free in ovs_ct_execute() when the netns is torn down. Publish the CT limit pointer through RCU, remove it before teardown, and wait for readers before freeing its contents. Keep ovs_mutex around individual CT limit updates, and use the RCU read-side lock while GET traverses the RCU-protected limit lists. Netns teardown detaches the RCU-protected CT limit state in the pernet .pre_exit callback while holding ovs_mutex. The pernet core guarantees an RCU grace period between the .pre_exit and .exit callbacks, so the .exit callback completes the teardown without adding any extra synchronization. The netlink command handlers do not need NULL checks because the userspace netlink socket holds an active reference to its network namespace while a request is processed. The per-netns exit path therefore cannot run concurrently with SET, DEL, or GET for that socket's namespace.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

11efd5cb04a184eea4f57b68ea63dddd463158d14.18
Vendor states this is fixed in 239f26589a6926db28c436e14f28517581ef1385 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3b41d907400cc1dd1da9555b81dca422b1f44433 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 3b9369881b403f4cdbb11fa998554382bdcc3d8c (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 403f96c32c9e24600093d7d0c61c17daeedca957 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 680f20d5937fa4d1367c59fe83091b78041015f5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6a6d36fadb8537d9b79e72c9fa51885ec0c33e10 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in bf4aaa7ea2579e24ed7de2e20578a875bebca011 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in e15407c3a8a005324f633cd46cd8fb58042c1157 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 4.18 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.270 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.221 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.188 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.110 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.18.51 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.157 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.2.4 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 7.3-rc1 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet, and no fixed version or vendor advisory is recorded against it.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.8HIGHLinux
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusRECEIVED

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card