HIGH
macvlan NewLink UAF
CVE-2026-23273
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI6.9MEDIUM
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: macvlan: observe an RCU grace period in macvlan_common_newlink() error path valis reported that a race condition still happens after my prior patch. macvlan_common_newlink() might have made @dev visible before detecting an error, and its caller will directly call free_netdev(dev). We must respect an RCU period, either in macvlan or the core networking stack. After adding a temporary mdelay(1000) in macvlan_forward_source_one() to open the race window, valis repro was: ip link add p1 type veth peer p2 ip link set address 00:00:00:00:00:20 dev p1 ip link set up dev p1 ip link set up dev p2 ip link add mv0 link p2 type macvlan mode source (ip link add invalid% link p2 type macvlan mode source macaddr add 00:00:00:00:00:20 &) ; sleep 0.5 ; ping -c1 -I p1 1.2.3.4 PING 1.2.3.4 (1.2.3.4): 56 data bytes RTNETLINK answers: Invalid argument BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in macvlan_forward_source (drivers/net/macvlan.c:408 drivers/net/macvlan.c:444) Read of size 8 at addr ffff888016bb89c0 by task e/175 CPU: 1 UID: 1000 PID: 175 Comm: e Not tainted 6.19.0-rc8+ #33 NONE Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.14.0-2 04/01/2014 Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl (lib/dump_stack.c:123) print_report (mm/kasan/report.c:379 mm/kasan/report.c:482) ? macvlan_forward_source (drivers/net/macvlan.c:408 drivers/net/macvlan.c:444) kasan_report (mm/kasan/report.c:597) ? macvlan_forward_source (drivers/net/macvlan.c:408 drivers/net/macvlan.c:444) macvlan_forward_source (drivers/net/macvlan.c:408 drivers/net/macvlan.c:444) ? tasklet_init (kernel/softirq.c:983) macvlan_handle_frame (drivers/net/macvlan.c:501) Allocated by task 169: kasan_save_stack (mm/kasan/common.c:58) kasan_save_track (./arch/x86/include/asm/current.h:25 mm/kasan/common.c:70 mm/kasan/common.c:79) __kasan_kmalloc (mm/kasan/common.c:419) __kvmalloc_node_noprof (./include/linux/kasan.h:263 mm/slub.c:5657 mm/slub.c:7140) alloc_netdev_mqs (net/core/dev.c:12012) rtnl_create_link (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3648) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3830 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3957 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4072) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6958) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1894) __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:727 net/socket.c:742 net/socket.c:2206) __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2209) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:131) Freed by task 169: kasan_save_stack (mm/kasan/common.c:58) kasan_save_track (./arch/x86/include/asm/current.h:25 mm/kasan/common.c:70 mm/kasan/common.c:79) kasan_save_free_info (mm/kasan/generic.c:587) __kasan_slab_free (mm/kasan/common.c:287) kfree (mm/slub.c:6674 mm/slub.c:6882) rtnl_newlink (net/core/rtnetlink.c:3845 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3957 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4072) rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:6958) netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550) netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344) netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1894) __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:727 net/socket.c:742 net/socket.c:2206) __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2209) do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94) entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:131)
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
Local attackers with CAP_NET_ADMIN privileges (obtainable via unprivileged user namespaces on default kernels) can trigger a race condition leading to a use-after-free in the macvlan driver during malformed interface creation. Successful exploitation can result in kernel memory corruption, information disclosure, or system crashes when packets are processed through the affected macvlan port.
Vulnerability analysis
The vulnerability occurs in macvlan_common_newlink() when creating a new macvlan interface fails after the device has been made visible to the network stack. The root cause is a race condition where macvlan_hash_add_source() adds a reference to the device structure in the port's hash table, but if register_netdevice() or subsequent setup subsequently fails, the caller (rtnl_newlink) immediately calls free_netdev() without waiting for an RCU grace period. This leaves a dangling pointer in the hash table that can be dereferenced in macvlan_forward_source() in softirq context when processing packets with matching source MAC addresses. The fix adds synchronize_net() in the error path to ensure an RCU grace period elapses before the device memory is freed, preventing the use-after-free condition.
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 5.10.252 | 91e4ff8d9669 |
| 5.15 | 5.15.202 | 3d94323c80d7 |
| 6.1 | 6.1.165 | 721eb342d9ba |
| 6.12 | 6.12.75 | a1f686d273d1 |
| 6.18 | 6.18.14 | d34f7a8aa9a2 |
| 6.19 | 6.19.4 | 1e58ae87ad1e |
| 6.6 | 6.6.128 | 19c7d8ac5198 |
| mainline | 7.0 | e3f000f0dee1 |