HIGH Introduced in 4.18
openvswitch CTLimit UAF
CVE-2026-89488
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
KernelScan AI7.8HIGH
01Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: openvswitch: Fix CT limit teardown use-after-free Packet processing uses CT limit state under RCU, while netns teardown frees that state under ovs_mutex. The CT limit pointer was neither removed from readers nor protected by a grace period, allowing packet processing to dereference the freed state. An unprivileged user can trigger this bug from a user and network namespace, causing a slab-use-after-free in ovs_ct_execute() when the netns is torn down. Publish the CT limit pointer through RCU, remove it before teardown, and wait for readers before freeing its contents. Keep ovs_mutex around individual CT limit updates, and use the RCU read-side lock while GET traverses the RCU-protected limit lists. Netns teardown detaches the RCU-protected CT limit state in the pernet .pre_exit callback while holding ovs_mutex. The pernet core guarantees an RCU grace period between the .pre_exit and .exit callbacks, so the .exit callback completes the teardown without adding any extra synchronization. The netlink command handlers do not need NULL checks because the userspace netlink socket holds an active reference to its network namespace while a request is processed. The per-netns exit path therefore cannot run concurrently with SET, DEL, or GET for that socket's namespace.
02KernelScan AI Analysis
Risk summary
An unprivileged local user can exploit a use-after-free in OpenVSwitch's conntrack zone limit feature by racing packet processing against network namespace teardown. The vulnerability allows kernel heap memory corruption from within a user namespace, potentially enabling container escape and full system compromise. Systems running OpenVSwitch with unprivileged user namespaces enabled are at risk.
Vulnerability analysis
OpenVSwitch tracks per-zone connection limits with internal state that packet handling code accesses concurrently with network namespace teardown. The teardown path frees this state while packet processing may still be reading it, leading to use-after-free memory corruption. The repair replaces the direct pointer with a protected reference that is removed before teardown begins and defers freeing until all concurrent readers have finished. An unprivileged local attacker who can create user and network namespaces can trigger the flaw by passing traffic through OpenVSwitch while destroying the namespace, which can result in kernel memory corruption and container escape.
Lifecycle
03Fix Versions
| Branch | Introduced | Fixed in | Patch commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.10 | 4.18 | 5.10.270 | 239f26589a69 |
| 5.15 | 4.18 | 5.15.221 | 3b9369881b40 |
| 6.1 | 4.18 | 6.1.188 | 3b41d907400c |
| 6.12 | 4.18 | 6.12.110 | bf4aaa7ea257 |
| 6.18 | 4.18 | 6.18.51 | e15407c3a8a0 |
| 6.6 | 4.18 | 6.6.157 | 680f20d5937f |
| 7.2 | 4.18 | 7.2.4 | 6a6d36fadb85 |
| mainline | 4.18 | 7.3 | 403f96c32c9e |
| cip/5.10 | 4.18 | 5.10.271-cip78 | 239f26589a69 |
| cip/6.1 | 4.18 | 6.1.189-cip61 | 3b41d907400c |
| cip/6.1-rt | 4.18 | 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 | 3b41d907400c |
| cip/6.12 | 4.18 | 6.12.111-cip32 | bf4aaa7ea257 |
04CIP Kernels
State of the newest release of each Civil Infrastructure Platform SLTS tree, from CIP's own fix records.
| CIP tree | State |
|---|---|
| cip/6.12 | Fixed in 6.12.111-cip32 |
| cip/6.1 | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61 |
| cip/6.1-rt | Fixed in 6.1.189-cip61-rt32 |
| cip/5.10 | Fixed in 5.10.271-cip78 |
| cip/5.10-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 5.10.268-cip77-rt34) |
| cip/4.19 | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136) |
| cip/4.19-rt | Affected — no CIP fix yet (latest 4.19.325-cip136-rt50) |