{"id":"CVE-2026-98869","title":"kernel: bpf: Infer zext_dst based on static register liveness analysis (CVE-2026-98869)","summary":"A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) verifier. A local attacker could achieve privilege escalation by loading a specially crafted BPF program into the kernel. The vulnerability occurs because the verifier fai…","severity":"high","cvss":7.8,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvssSource":"vendor","cwe":"CWE-681","vendor":"Red Hat","product":"Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10","affected":["enterprise_linux 10"],"published":"2026-10-21","updated":"2026-10-24","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-24T14:22:58+00:00","source":"CSAF","sourceUrl":"https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98869.json","references":[{"url":"https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98869.json"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98869"},{"url":"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2558313"},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98869"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98869"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98869.mbox"},{"url":"https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ce090afbf725e25fff29caacce1eaf8459b1117"}],"tags":["csaf","vex","red-hat","cve.org"],"epss":0.00165,"epssPercentile":0.05709,"ingestedAt":"2026-10-21T15:02:42.098Z","slug":"CVE-2026-98869","body":"## Overview\n\nA flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) verifier. A local attacker could achieve privilege escalation by loading a specially crafted BPF program into the kernel. The vulnerability occurs because the verifier fails to properly track register states across execution paths during 32-bit operations, leading to missing zero-extension instructions. Consequently, an attacker can inject arbitrary values into 64-bit registers to bypass kernel safety checks and compromise system memory.\n\n## Vendor advisories\n\n- **Red Hat VEX** · Important · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-10-24 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98869.json)\n\n**kernel: bpf: Infer zext_dst based on static register liveness analysis** — rated Important by Red Hat. Released 2026-10-21, updated 2026-10-24.\n\nAffected:\n\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10\n\nNo fix planned:\n\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10\n\nNot affected:\n\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8\n- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9\n- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4\n\n## Remediation\n\nAffected","depth":"twilight","depthScore":43,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":42.9,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[{"seq":228520,"id":"CVE-2026-98869","ts":1792844772968,"field":"cvss","old":null,"new":"7.8"},{"seq":228519,"id":"CVE-2026-98869","ts":1792844772968,"field":"severity","old":"none","new":"high"}]}