DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23111

Advisory lineage Upstream: 1 Downstream: 3
Upstream
CVE-2026-23111
Published: 13 Feb 2026, 14:16
Last modified:28 Apr 2026, 20:31

Vulnerability Summary

Overall Risk (default)
medium
31/100
CVSS Score
7.8 HIGH
3.1 (osv_debian)
EPSS Score
No data
KEV
Not listed
Ransomware
No reports
Public exploits
None found
Dark Web
Not detected

Timeline

13 Feb 2026, 14:16
Published
Vulnerability first disclosed
28 Apr 2026, 20:31
Last Modified
Vulnerability information updated

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: fix inverted genmask check in nft_map_catchall_activate() nft_map_catchall_activate() has an inverted element activity check compared to its non-catchall counterpart nft_mapelem_activate() and compared to what is logically required. nft_map_catchall_activate() is called from the abort path to re-activate catchall map elements that were deactivated during a failed transaction. It should skip elements that are already active (they don't need re-activation) and process elements that are inactive (they need to be restored). Instead, the current code does the opposite: it skips inactive elements and processes active ones. Compare the non-catchall activate callback, which is correct: nft_mapelem_activate(): if (nft_set_elem_active(ext, iter->genmask)) return 0; /* skip active, process inactive */ With the buggy catchall version: nft_map_catchall_activate(): if (!nft_set_elem_active(ext, genmask)) continue; /* skip inactive, process active */ The consequence is that when a DELSET operation is aborted, nft_setelem_data_activate() is never called for the catchall element. For NFT_GOTO verdict elements, this means nft_data_hold() is never called to restore the chain->use reference count. Each abort cycle permanently decrements chain->use. Once chain->use reaches zero, DELCHAIN succeeds and frees the chain while catchall verdict elements still reference it, resulting in a use-after-free. This is exploitable for local privilege escalation from an unprivileged user via user namespaces + nftables on distributions that enable CONFIG_USER_NS and CONFIG_NF_TABLES. Fix by removing the negation so the check matches nft_mapelem_activate(): skip active elements, process inactive ones.

CVSS Metrics

  • v3.1•HIGH•Score: 7.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Systems

  • debian•linux

    all | all | all | all | < 6.1.164-1 | < 6.12.73-1 | < 6.18.10-1

  • debian•linux-6.1

    < 6.1.164-1~deb11u1

References (1)