Vulnerability in Linux

CVE-2026-23272

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: unconditionally bump set->nelems before insertion In case that the set is full, a new element gets published then removed without waiting for the RCU grace period, while RCU reader can be walking over it already. To address this issue, add the element transaction even if set is full, but toggle the set_full flag to report -ENFILE so the abort path safely unwinds the set to its previous state. As for element updates, decrement set->nelems to restore it. A simpler fix is to call synchronize_rcu() in the error path. However, with a large batch adding elements to already maxed-out set, this could cause noticeable slowdown of such batches.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.001 (1.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 2nd percentile — 1.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-23272: held from 0.001 to 0.001.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.001 · newest: 0.001 · change: 0.000

Affected products

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-23272?
CVE-2026-23272 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2026-03-20.
How severe is CVE-2026-23272?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.