CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-98881

Low risk· EPSS 7%
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.18%

7th percentile - higher than 7% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, an unnecessary rcu_barrier() call was removed from br_multicast_dev_del() in the network bridge module. This call originated from a time when call_rcu() was used in br_multicast.c, but since kfree_rcu() is now used, the barrier is no longer needed and causes excessive RTNL pressure. This led to task stalls waiting on mutexes, as reported by syzbot.

Risk Assessment

The vulnerability can cause stalls and delays in the kernel network stack, particularly during bridge interface removal or network namespace cleanup. This may result in temporary service unavailability or network configuration management issues.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version containing the fix that removes rcu_barrier() in br_multicast_dev_del(). If an update is not possible, consider limiting the frequency of bridge removal operations until the fix is applied.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

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Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: bridge: remove stale rcu_barrier() in br_multicast_dev_del() This rcu_barrier() came from a time call_rcu() calls were used in net/bridge/br_multicast.c. Now kfree_rcu() is there, we can remove this problematic rcu_barrier() which causes extreme RTNL pressure in many syzbot reports. INFO: task syz-executor:77945 is blocked on a mutex likely owned by task kworker/u1024:5:36537. task:kworker/u1024:5 state:D stack:24616 pid:36537 tgid:36537 ppid:2 task_flags:0x4208060 flags:0x00080000 last_sleep:612797637337 Workqueue: netns cleanup_net Call Trace: <TASK> [<ffffffff81914eaa>] context_switch+0xf2a/0x1730 kernel/sched/core.c:6483 [<ffffffff81201143>] __schedule+0x1133/0x43a0 kernel/sched/core.c:8411 [<ffffffff8120446b>] __schedule_loop kernel/sched/core.c:8514 [inline] [<ffffffff8120446b>] schedule+0xab/0x260 kernel/sched/core.c:8529 [<ffffffff8121a093>] schedule_timeout+0xc3/0x2b0 kernel/time/sleep_timeout.c:75 [<ffffffff81205347>] do_wait_for_common kernel/sched/completion.c:100 [inline] [<ffffffff81205347>] __wait_for_common kernel/sched/completion.c:121 [inline] [<ffffffff81205347>] wait_for_common kernel/sched/completion.c:132 [inline] [<ffffffff81205347>] wait_for_completion+0x2c7/0x5d0 kernel/sched/completion.c:153 [<ffffffff81b8f27f>] rcu_barrier+0x49f/0x620 kernel/rcu/tree.c:3888 [<ffffffff860091b3>] br_multicast_dev_del+0x303/0x350 net/bridge/br_multicast.c:4459 [<ffffffff85fb5dbc>] br_dev_uninit+0x1c/0x40 net/bridge/br_device.c:157 [<ffffffff8568058c>] unregister_netdevice_many_notify+0x1c1c/0x2300 net/core/dev.c:12599 [<ffffffff8562be43>] ops_exit_rtnl_list net/core/net_namespace.c:187 [inline] [<ffffffff8562be43>] ops_undo_list+0x3d3/0x940 net/core/net_namespace.c:248

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS