KernelScan.io

HIGH Introduced in 5.15

bpf TcpIter UAF

CVE-2026-74714

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 AI6.9MEDIUM

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: tcp: Fix use-after-free in bpf_iter_tcp_established_batch() reqsk_queue_hash_req() publishes a TCP_NEW_SYN_RECV request_sock onto the ehash chain, drops the bucket lock, and only afterwards sets rsk_refcnt to 3. Lockless readers such as __inet_lookup_established() handle this with refcount_inc_not_zero(), but bpf_iter_tcp_established_batch() uses plain sock_hold() while holding the bucket lock, on the assumption that the lock guarantees sk_refcnt > 0. That assumption does not hold for request_sock: CPU 0 CPU 1 ----- ----- tcp_conn_request() reqsk_queue_hash_req() inet_ehash_insert(req) spin_lock(bucket) __sk_nulls_add_node_rcu(req) // rsk_refcnt == 0 spin_unlock(bucket) bpf_iter_tcp_established_batch() spin_lock(bucket) sock_hold(req) <-- addition on 0 spin_unlock(bucket) refcount_set(&req->rsk_refcnt, 3) // clobbers saturated value which surfaces as: refcount_t: addition on 0; use-after-free. WARNING: lib/refcount.c:25 at refcount_warn_saturate+0x48/0x90, CPU#1 Call Trace: bpf_iter_tcp_established_batch+0x14e/0x170 bpf_iter_tcp_batch+0x53/0x200 bpf_iter_tcp_seq_next+0x27/0x70 bpf_seq_read+0x107/0x410 vfs_read+0xb9/0x380 The iterator's stolen reference is lost when the publishing CPU's refcount_set() overwrites the count, leaving the socket one reference short. When the last legitimate owner drops its reference the reqsk is freed while still reachable, leading to use-after-free. This reproduces in seconds with tcp_syncookies=0, a handful of threads doing connect()/close() to a local listener while others read an iter/tcp link in a tight loop. Use refcount_inc_not_zero() and skip the socket on failure. A skipped socket is still part of the bucket, so keep counting it in expected. The reallocations are sized from expected, and a request sock whose refcount gets published while the lock is held across the last realloc must already have room. A skipped socket is counted in expected but never batched, so end_sk can be short of expected on a batch that is actually complete. Decide completeness by whether the walk left any socket behind instead. The WARN after the locked realloc checks the same, replacing an end_sk == expected check that could not hold on that path since commit cdec67a489d4 ("bpf: tcp: Make sure iter->batch always contains a full bucket snapshot"). If every matching socket in a bucket is mid-init (refcount 0), end_sk stays 0. Advance to the next bucket rather than returning a batch entry that was never filled this round.

02

Engine v0.6.0

Risk summary

A use-after-free in the BPF TCP socket iterator can be triggered by a local attacker who can load BPF programs and create TCP connections concurrently. The bug corrupts kernel heap state via a lost reference count on a request socket, potentially leading to arbitrary kernel read/write or a system crash. Systems running BPF observability tools alongside active TCP workloads are most at risk.

Affectednet/ipv4/tcp_ipv4.c (BPF TCP iterator)

Vulnerability analysis

The BPF TCP socket iterator takes a reference on each socket it visits while holding the hash bucket lock, assuming the lock guarantees the socket's reference count is already positive. However, when a new TCP connection request is inserted into the hash table, the socket is added to the chain with a zero reference count and only has its count set to a positive value after the bucket lock is released. This creates a window where the iterator increments a zero count, which the publishing CPU then overwrites, silently losing the iterator's reference. When the socket's last legitimate owner releases it, the socket is freed while still reachable from the hash chain, resulting in a use-after-free. The fix replaces the unconditional reference increment with a conditional one that skips sockets whose count is still zero, and adjusts the batch completion logic to handle skipped sockets correctly. This vulnerability is reachable locally by any process that can create a BPF TCP iterator while concurrent TCP connections are being established.

03

BranchIntroducedFixed inPatch commit
6.15.156.1.183cc0295f89296
7.15.157.1.997e74d3e45d6
6.125.156.12.1047d2b60a4bc04
6.185.156.18.45cefcbbe20846
6.65.156.6.152ddbe966b5d1f
mainline5.157.2e5fd3f514e27
cip/6.15.156.1.187-cip60cc0295f89296
cip/6.125.156.12.104-cip307d2b60a4bc04