Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-23255

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: add proper RCU protection to /proc/net/ptype Yin Fengwei reported an RCU stall in ptype_seq_show() and provided a patch. Real issue is that ptype_seq_next() and ptype_seq_show() violate RCU rules. ptype_seq_show() runs under rcu_read_lock(), and reads pt->dev to get device name without any barrier. At the same time, concurrent writers can remove a packet_type structure (which is correctly freed after an RCU grace period) and clear pt->dev without an RCU grace period. Define ptype_iter_state to carry a dev pointer along seq_net_private: struct ptype_iter_state { struct seq_net_private p; struct net_device *dev; // added in this patch }; We need to record the device pointer in ptype_get_idx() and ptype_seq_next() so that ptype_seq_show() is safe against concurrent pt->dev changes. We also need to add full RCU protection in ptype_seq_next(). (Missing READ_ONCE() when reading list.next values) Many thanks to Dong Chenchen for providing a repro.

EPSS: 0.001 (1.7th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

  • Linux — versions 6.6.136, 6.18.10, 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2
  • Linux Linux_kernel — versions 2.6.12, 6.19

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23255?
CVE-2026-23255 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2026-03-18.
How severe is CVE-2026-23255?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.