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HIGH Public exploit Introduced in 6.4

netfilter Catchall UAF

CVE-2026-23111

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI7.8HIGH

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: fix inverted genmask check in nft_map_catchall_activate() nft_map_catchall_activate() has an inverted element activity check compared to its non-catchall counterpart nft_mapelem_activate() and compared to what is logically required. nft_map_catchall_activate() is called from the abort path to re-activate catchall map elements that were deactivated during a failed transaction. It should skip elements that are already active (they don't need re-activation) and process elements that are inactive (they need to be restored). Instead, the current code does the opposite: it skips inactive elements and processes active ones. Compare the non-catchall activate callback, which is correct: nft_mapelem_activate(): if (nft_set_elem_active(ext, iter->genmask)) return 0; /* skip active, process inactive */ With the buggy catchall version: nft_map_catchall_activate(): if (!nft_set_elem_active(ext, genmask)) continue; /* skip inactive, process active */ The consequence is that when a DELSET operation is aborted, nft_setelem_data_activate() is never called for the catchall element. For NFT_GOTO verdict elements, this means nft_data_hold() is never called to restore the chain->use reference count. Each abort cycle permanently decrements chain->use. Once chain->use reaches zero, DELCHAIN succeeds and frees the chain while catchall verdict elements still reference it, resulting in a use-after-free. This is exploitable for local privilege escalation from an unprivileged user via user namespaces + nftables on distributions that enable CONFIG_USER_NS and CONFIG_NF_TABLES. Fix by removing the negation so the check matches nft_mapelem_activate(): skip active elements, process inactive ones.

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

Local users can exploit inverted logic in nf_tables catchall element activation to cause use-after-free conditions. This enables privilege escalation from unprivileged users via user namespaces on systems with CONFIG_USER_NS enabled. The vulnerability affects netfilter nf_tables subsystem during transaction abort handling.

Affectednet/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c (netfilter)

Vulnerability analysis

The nft_map_catchall_activate() function contains inverted element activity logic compared to nft_mapelem_activate(). During transaction abort, it incorrectly skips inactive elements that need re-activation and processes active ones instead. This prevents nft_data_hold() from restoring chain reference counts for NFT_GOTO verdict elements, causing chain->use underflow. When chain->use reaches zero, DELCHAIN frees the chain while catchall elements still reference it, creating a use-after-free condition exploitable for local privilege escalation.

Exploit availability

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03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
4.194.19.3164.2042c574c1504a
5.105.10.1885.118b68a45f9722
5.155.15.1215.15.2008c760ba4e36c
5.45.4.2625.51444ff890b46
6.16.1.366.1.163b9b6573421de
6.126.46.12.70—
6.186.46.18.10—
6.36.3.106.4f41c5d151078
6.66.46.6.124—
mainline6.46.19—
cip/6.16.46.1.164-cip52b9b6573421de
cip/6.1-rt6.46.1.164-cip52-rt28b9b6573421de
cip/6.126.46.12.76-cip181444ff890b46

04

State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.

CIP treeState
cip/6.12Fixed in 6.12.76-cip18
cip/6.1Fixed in 6.1.164-cip52
cip/6.1-rtFixed in 6.1.164-cip52-rt28
cip/5.10Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.271-cip78)
cip/5.10-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34)
cip/4.19Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136)
cip/4.19-rtAffected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50)