In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix netns reference imbalance in conntrack kfuncs The opts argument of the BPF conntrack kfuncs can point to a shared map value

Overview

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

bpf: Fix netns reference imbalance in conntrack kfuncs

The opts argument of the BPF conntrack kfuncs can point to a shared map value. __bpf_nf_ct_lookup() and __bpf_nf_ct_alloc_entry() read opts->netns_id separately when acquiring and releasing the network namespace reference.

The reference imbalance can occur as follows:

CPU 0 CPU 1 read opts->netns_id (-1) skip get_net_ns_by_id() write opts->netns_id (id) read opts->netns_id (id) put_net(net) /* no matching get */

The reverse transition leaks the reference. Repeating the unmatched put can destroy a live namespace and crash later users.

The kernel reported:

Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x00000000000000e8-0x00000000000000ef] RIP: 0010:bpf_prog_test_run_xdp+0x52c/0x1700 Call Trace: __sys_bpf+0x1662/0x50c0 __x64_sys_bpf+0x73/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0xf9/0x540 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception

Snapshot every input field of opts with READ_ONCE() before validating or using it. The netns_id snapshot keeps the namespace get/put pair balanced, while the other snapshots keep the remaining options from changing partway through an invocation. The individual reads can still observe an inconsistent combination during a concurrent update, but each selected field value remains stable for that invocation.

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 9 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 · updated 2026-10-26 · vex