Vulnerability in Linux
CVE-2026-74269
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bnxt: fix head underflow on XDP head-grow The xdp.py test test_xdp_native_adjst_head_grow_data crashes when run on a bnxt machine (and also crashes in NIPA). It seems that the bug is an underflow in bnxt_rx_multi_page_skb, which builds the skb head: napi_build_skb(data_ptr - bp->rx_offset, rxr->rx_page_size); The problem with this expression is that in page mode, rx_offset is: bp->rx_offset = NET_IP_ALIGN + XDP_PACKET_HEADROOM; Which evaluates (at least on x86_64) to 258. The test test_xdp_native_adjst_head_grow_data tests a case where the head is adjusted by -256. When this test runs, data_ptr is shifted to frag_start + 2 (where frag_start = page_address(page) + offset). Then, bnxt_rx_multi_page_skb is invoked and the napi_build_skb expression subtracts 258, landing at an address before frag_start. This could be either the previous fragment or the previous physical page when the offset is < 256 (e.g. if the fragment started at offset 0). When the skb is freed, the page pool fragment reference is dropped on either the wrong page or the wrong frag of the right page. In either case, the corrupted reference count can lead to the page being prematurely recycled while still in use. Once (incorrectly) recycled, it can be handed out again and on driver teardown this would result in a double free. The commit under fixes updated this code to handle the case where the native page size is >= 64k, but it unintentionally broke the head grow case. To fix this, add an offset field to struct bnxt_sw_rx_bd, mirroring the existing offset field in struct bnxt_sw_rx_agg_bd. Populate it on allocation and preserve it on reuse. In bnxt_rx_multi_page_skb, use the newly added offset field to compute the fragment start and pass that to napi_build_skb. Adjust the layout with skb_reserve. There are two cases, the non-adjustment case and the adjustment case. In both cases, the skb is built at page_address(page) + offset to account for the case where the native page size >= 64K and skb_reserve is called with data_ptr - (page_address(page) + offset). That difference equals bp->rx_offset when data_ptr was not moved, or bp->rx_offset + xdp_adjust when XDP adjusted the head. Re-running the failing test with this commit applied causes the test to run successfully to completion. The other rx_skb_func implementations don't have this issue.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.006 (49.1th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 49th percentile — 49.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.003
Affected products
- Linux — versions e9f11bfc03fb0d3c86f91b8ae945bb10f7e19c16, 7.2-rc1, 6.4.10
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-74269?
- CVE-2026-74269 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-08-15.
- How severe is CVE-2026-74269?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.