CVE-2026-23231

netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nf_tables_addchain()

State
Published
Severity
7.8 High
Published
Mar 4, 2026
Updated
Oct 19, 2026
Reserved
Jan 13, 2026

Read the record on cve.org

Description

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

netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nf_tables_addchain()

nf_tables_addchain() publishes the chain to table->chains via list_add_tail_rcu() (in nft_chain_add()) before registering hooks. If nf_tables_register_hook() then fails, the error path calls nft_chain_del() (list_del_rcu()) followed by nf_tables_chain_destroy() with no RCU grace period in between.

This creates two use-after-free conditions:

1) Control-plane: nf_tables_dump_chains() traverses table->chains under rcu_read_lock(). A concurrent dump can still be walking the chain when the error path frees it.

2) Packet path: for NFPROTO_INET, nf_register_net_hook() briefly installs the IPv4 hook before IPv6 registration fails. Packets entering nft_do_chain() via the transient IPv4 hook can still be dereferencing chain->blob_gen_X when the error path frees the chain.

Add synchronize_rcu() between nft_chain_del() and the chain destroy so that all RCU readers -- both dump threads and in-flight packet evaluation -- have finished before the chain is freed.

Scores

CVSSScoreVectorSource
3.17.8 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HLinux

Weaknesses

Affected Products

ProductVersions
LinuxLinux
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before 2a6586ecfa4ce1413daaafee250d2590e05f1a33Affected
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before 7017745068a9068904e1e7a1b170a5785647cc81Affected
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before f3fe58ce37926a10115ede527d59b91bcc05400aAffected
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before dbd0af8083dd201f07c49110b2ee93710abdff28Affected
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before 2f9a4ffeb763aec822f8ff3d1e82202d27d46d4bAffected
  • 91c7b38dc9f0de4f7f444b796d14476bc12df7bc to before 71e99ee20fc3f662555118cf1159443250647533Affected
LinuxLinux
  • 3.16Affected
  • before 3.16Not affected
  • 6.1.165 through 6.1.*Not affected
  • 6.6.128 through 6.6.*Not affected
  • 6.12.75 through 6.12.*Not affected
  • 6.18.14 through 6.18.*Not affected
  • 6.19.4 through 6.19.*Not affected
  • 7.0 and laterNot affected

References

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