CVE-2026-45859
netfilter: nfnetlink_queue: do shared-unconfirmed check before segmentation
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.5 High
- Published
- May 27, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 30, 2026
- Reserved
- May 13, 2026
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nfnetlink_queue: do shared-unconfirmed check before segmentation
Ulrich reports a regression with nfqueue:
If an application did not set the 'F_GSO' capability flag and a gso packet with an unconfirmed nf_conn entry is received all packets are now dropped instead of queued, because the check happens after skb_gso_segment(). In that case, we did have exclusive ownership of the skb and its associated conntrack entry. The elevated use count is due to skb_clone happening via skb_gso_segment().
Move the check so that its peformed vs. the aggregated packet.
Then, annotate the individual segments except the first one so we can do a 2nd check at reinject time.
For the normal case, where userspace does in-order reinjects, this avoids packet drops: first reinjected segment continues traversal and confirms entry, remaining segments observe the confirmed entry.
While at it, simplify nf_ct_drop_unconfirmed(): We only care about unconfirmed entries with a refcnt > 1, there is no need to special-case dying entries.
This only happens with UDP. With TCP, the only unconfirmed packet will be the TCP SYN, those aren't aggregated by GRO.
Next patch adds a udpgro test case to cover this scenario.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.5 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | Linux |
Weaknesses
- CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
LinuxLinux |
|
LinuxLinux |
|
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4666688657e1054278b836b825fb88b2907e2da2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aead84bdacd77e08357fd718e5dcaffaf387f3c3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/79b713ef4261a8ead96af4703f89d0b5f25532e2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/23901aa6b8a2f294c4b774436b4691f3ff863a8f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b740e7ddd7ca0dbfeafca3f5e52717206cf28524
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/207b3ebacb6113acaaec0d171d5307032c690004
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