---
id: CVE-2026-98854
title: >-
  kernel: of/overlay: only treat a positive changeset id as registered
  (CVE-2026-98854)
summary: >-
  A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Device Tree overlay subsystem. When
  applying an overlay fails during identifier allocation, the error cleanup
  routine incorrectly treats negative error codes as valid identifiers. A local
  user could t…
severity: medium
cvss: 4.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'
cvssSource: vendor
cwe: CWE-476
vendor: Red Hat
product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
affected:
  - enterprise_linux 10
  - enterprise_linux 8
  - openshift_container_platform 4
published: '2026-10-18'
updated: '2026-10-23'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-23T15:23:03+00:00'
source: CSAF
sourceUrl: 'https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98854.json'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98854.json
  - url: 'https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98854'
  - url: 'https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2555233'
  - url: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98854'
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98854'
  - url: >-
      https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/security/vulns.git/plain/cve/published/2026/CVE-2026-98854.mbox
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cc688475c56d34a2b584141f9544cbe23360080d'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c08a54df9d33dcd6ff089adc9434b2c008af3a39'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0d1525fdcd3355672b7485d61e55df6824ab5ad1'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c875407c34dadaef0599834ad9c815f4c9f50d15'
  - url: 'https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/44081d708b5b885487bac792db78324b7b4c267d'
tags:
  - csaf
  - vex
  - red-hat
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00156
epssPercentile: 0.04712
ingestedAt: '2026-10-18T16:47:32.461Z'
---

## Overview

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's Device Tree overlay subsystem. When applying an overlay fails during identifier allocation, the error cleanup routine incorrectly treats negative error codes as valid identifiers. A local user could trigger this vulnerability during resource allocation failures, causing an uninitialized list operation and a null pointer dereference that crashes the kernel, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).

## Vendor advisories

- **Red Hat VEX** · Moderate · affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · no fix planned: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 · updated 2026-10-23 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-98854.json)

**kernel: of/overlay: only treat a positive changeset id as registered** — rated Moderate by Red Hat. Released 2026-10-18, updated 2026-10-23.

Affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

No fix planned:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

Not affected:

- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4

## Remediation

Fix deferred