CVE-2026-98641
Low risk· EPSS 6%Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk6th percentile - higher than 6% of all known CVEs
Summary
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel on arm64 in BPF exception callback handling. The callback prologue failed to set the frame pointer (BPF_REG_FP), so register x25 retained the value from the subprogram that invoked bpf_throw(). As a result, a helper could receive a local variable address pointing into a dead stack frame and overwrite its own return address, causing a kernel panic.
Risk Assessment
The vulnerability can cause kernel memory corruption and a system panic (denial of service), and under favorable conditions may allow arbitrary code execution in kernel context. It affects arm64 systems using BPF programs with exception handling.
Recommendation
Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that sets ctx->fp_used on the exception callback path. If updating is not possible, restrict the ability of unprivileged users to load BPF programs.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
See all- CVE-2026-43603Medium
A NULL pointer dereference in the Linux GPU driver could potentially lead to a kernel crash. This may result in a denial of service on the affected system.
- CVE-2026-99270High
A use-after-free (UAF) vulnerability exists in the Linux kernel's reqsk_timer_handler() function. When TCP socket migration fails at inet_ehash_insert(), the code jumps to the no_ownership label and immediately frees the new reqsk via __reqsk_free() without stopping its timer, potentially leading to a UAF.
- CVE-2026-99269High
In the Linux kernel sched_ext scheduler, a task can be found on a non-local DSQ while the CPU that dispatched it is still running ops.dequeue() and hasn't cleared SCX_OPSS_DISPATCHING. The DSQ consume and move paths don't wait for dispatch to finish and can operate on the task concurrently with the dispatcher. The fix adds scx_wait_dispatching() before operating on the task.
- CVE-2026-99268Unknown
In io_uring with IORING_SETUP_DEFER_TASKRUN, completions are queued as local work and only become CQEs when the submitter enters the kernel to wait for events. io_uring_poll() reports EPOLLIN if local work is pending, but only if the work exists at call time; after DEFER_TASKRUN was added, the ->poll_wq wakeup was replaced by directly waking the submitter, so poll() can sleep despite pending work. The fix wakes ->poll_wq when the first entry is put on the work list, using an RCU callback when needed.
- CVE-2026-99267Unknown
In io_uring NAPI with dynamic tracking, a NAPI id not seen for a minute should be dropped from the ring's busy-poll list. However, the timeout is computed incorrectly — SEC_CONVERSION is used instead of the number of jiffies per second, giving about eight years for HZ=1000 and overflowing on 32-bit systems. As a result, entries are never removed and every wait polls all historical ids.
- CVE-2026-99266Unknown
In io_uring zcrx, io_zcrx_queue_cqe() computes the buffer offset in its area from net_iov_idx(), which is an unsigned int, so the shift is done in 32 bits and only the result is widened to the u64 placed in the CQE. An area can be up to 1 TB, so for every niov beyond the first 4 GB the CQE points the application at a buffer 4 GB (or a multiple) below the correct one. The application reads wrong data and returns a buffer it doesn't own via the refill queue while the real one is never given back.
- CVE-2026-99265Unknown
In io_uring/openclose, io_pipe_fixed() installs both ends of the pipe in the fixed file table, drops ->uring_lock, and copies the slot numbers to the application. If that faults, it takes the lock again and removes whatever is in these slots. If the request is run by io-wq, the lock really is dropped and the slots are visible to others; by the time the error path gets to them, they may have been closed and reused (by IORING_OP_CLOSE, direct open/accept, or IORING_REGISTER_FILES_UPDATE), causing removal of a file unrelated to the failed request. The fix performs the copy with the lock held.
- CVE-2026-99264High
A bug was fixed in the Linux kernel's io_uring/net handling of recv retries on uncommitted buffers. When a receive was retried after a partial transfer, the kernel could hand out buffer memory that the retried request was still writing to, causing data overwrites. The request is now completed with the bytes received instead of retried, and MSG_WAITALL is no longer honoured for incremental buffers or multi-buffer bundles.
- CVE-2026-99263Unknown
In io_uring/poll, if a wakeup sets IO_POLL_RETRY_FLAG between the owning task consuming the existing instance of IO_POLL_RETRY_FLAG and the loop check in io_poll_check_events(), request processing stalls until an unrelated wakeup arrives. The fix uses atomic_cmpxchg instead of atomic_sub_return to guarantee both the count v and poll_refs are 0 and no wakeups are missed.
- CVE-2026-99262Unknown
In io_uring/timeout, an IORING_OP_TIMEOUT run by io-wq due to IOSQE_ASYNC has the same problem as poll, futex, and waitid. io_wq_submit_work() checks IO_WQ_WORK_CANCEL only once before issuing the request; a cancel in between flags the work, gets -EALREADY, and searches ->timeout_list in vain while the worker adds the request and starts the timer. Nobody checks the flag again and the timeout runs its course, and at ring exit a task can get stuck for the full duration. The fix checks the flag under ->timeout_lock and fails the request if set.
Original NVD description (English source)
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf, arm64: set up the frame pointer for the exception callback A program acting as exception boundary saves all callee-saved registers, so build_prologue() takes the exception_cb path and never calls push_callee_regs(). That is the only place find_used_callee_regs() runs, and with it the only place ctx->fp_used is set, so the callback prologue does not emit the mov x25, sp that points BPF_REG_FP at the frame the callback runs on. x25 keeps whatever it held when bpf_throw() was called. If the throw came from a subprogram that uses its own BPF stack, that is the subprogram's frame pointer, and since the subprogram never returns it never restores x25 either. Stack accesses through BPF_REG_FP are rewritten to be stack pointer relative, so those still land in the callback's own frame. Materializing the register does not: a callback that passes the address of a local variable to a helper hands over an address in the dead subprogram's frame. That address is below the callback's stack pointer by then, and the helper's own call chain covers it, so the helper can write over its own return address. 0x1234 below is the value the helper was asked to store: pc : 0x1234 lr : 0x1234 Call trace: 0x1234 (P) bpf_test_run+0x188/0x3e0 bpf_prog_test_run_skb+0x47c/0x998 __sys_bpf+0xbdc/0xdd8 Kernel panic - not syncing: Oops: Fatal exception in interrupt Set ctx->fp_used on the exception callback path so that the existing code further down sets x25 from the stack pointer. The epilogue restores it from the main program's save area along with the other callee-saved registers, as it already does. x86 sets the frame pointer for the callback from the argument it is passed, and powerpc computes it from the stack pointer.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

