---
id: CVE-2026-72418
title: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  netfilter: nf_conncount: prevent connlimit drops for early confirmed ct

  Commit 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit: update the count if add
  was skipped") introduce…
summary: |-
  In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

  netfilter: nf_conncount: prevent connlimit drops for early confirmed ct

  Commit 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit: update the count if add
  was skipped") introduce…
severity: high
cvss: 7.5
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-367
vendor: Red Hat
product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
affected:
  - enterprise_linux 10
published: '2026-08-15'
updated: '2026-10-16'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-16T19:17:29.033'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72418'
references:
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/000ac6830b56499d6b65fd91486ce6689eb02be4'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/329f2626ee5cb8fafdf6b58b624311529c57cb45'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3793d24de224943e0a6016bbeffb6f5c4cea2e3d'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/abef7f817217fcb62c11821d6b895063eadb2828'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be52572c6d55f677ba76869d3c63805c0d4891a3'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c8b6f36f766991e3ebebec6596daee4b04dcbc49'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cbe2d14a7c5b1fc71821fbfee5c4963917411e92'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ebfe8249ba79e4ff0f1e3aad8787b992ef27f026'
    label: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-72418.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-72418'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2516428'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72418'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72418'
  - url: >-
      https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026081525-CVE-2026-72418-185c@gregkh/T
tags:
  - nvd
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - cve.org
  - score-dispute
epss: 0.00716
epssPercentile: 0.53585
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-10-16T18:49:23.434729Z'
scores:
  nvd: 7.5
  vendor: 5.5
  cna: 7.5
ingestedAt: '2026-10-16T19:46:24.398Z'
---

## Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

netfilter: nf_conncount: prevent connlimit drops for early confirmed ct

Commit 69894e5b4c5e ("netfilter: nft_connlimit: update the count if add
was skipped") introduced a regression where packets for valid
connections are dropped when using connlimit for soft-limiting
scenarios.

The issue occurs when a new connection reuses a socket currently in
the TIME_WAIT state. In this scenario, the connection tracking entry
is evaluated as already confirmed. Previously, __nf_conncount_add()
assumed that if a connection was confirmed and did not originate from
the loopback interface, it should skip the addition and return -EEXIST.

Skipping the addition triggers a garbage collection run that cleans up
the TIME_WAIT connection. Consequently, the active connection count
drops to 0, which xt_connlimit mishandles, leading to the false rejection
of the perfectly valid new connection.

Fix this by replacing the interface check with protocol-agnostic state
checks. We now skip the tree insertion and preserve the lockless garbage
collection optimization only if the connection is IPS_ASSURED. This
allows early-confirmed setup packets (such as reused TIME_WAIT sockets
or locally generated SYN-ACKs) to be properly evaluated and counted
without falsely dropping. The goto check_connections path is maintained
to ensure these setup packets are deduplicated correctly.

This has been tested with slowhttptest and HTTP server configured
locally to ensure we are not breaking soft-limiting scenarios for local
or external connections. In addition, it was tested with a OVS zone
limit too.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 · updated 2026-10-16 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-72418.json)