CVE-2026-74621: Linux kernel · net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet
Source GCVE Database
Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High.
Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC
- EPSS
- 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 41% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HExploitation evidence
Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 22 Aug 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors
A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet tcf_ct_handle_fragments() runs its header sanity checks before handing anything to the defragmentation engine: if (family == NFPROTO_IPV4) err = tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment(skb, &frag); else err = tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(skb, &frag); if (err || !frag) return err; tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment() returns -EINVAL or -ENOMEM; tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment() adds -EPROTO when ipv6_find_hdr() fails. None of them frees or queues the skb, so on that path the caller still owns it. tcf_ct_act() however funnels every non-zero return into the ownership-transfer exit: err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag); if (err) goto out_frag; ... out_frag: if (err != -EINPROGRESS) tcf_action_inc_drop_qstats(&c->common); return TC_ACT_CONSUMED; TC_ACT_CONSUMED means the action took ownership of the skb, so no caller frees it - sch_handle_ingress(), sch_handle_egress() and tcf_qevent_handle() all deliberately skip the free for that verdict. The skb is therefore orphaned: one sk_buff plus its data buffer is leaked per malformed packet, unbounded. Note the drop counter is already incremented for these errors, so the statistics claim a drop that never happens. Three different ownership states reach out_frag: today - the skb may be queued by the defrag engine (-EINPROGRESS), already freed by nf_ct_handle_fragments(), or still owned by us. Tell the caller which of those it is, and free the packet ourselves in the last case, which restores the TC_ACT_SHOT behaviour that predated the Fixes: commit. Reproduced on v7.2-rc6 with a 54-byte frame carrying a 40-byte IPv6 header with nexthdr = 0 (hop-by-hop) and nothing after it, on a clsact ingress chain with "action ct". kmemleak reports one leaked 232-byte skbuff_head_cache object plus its 704-byte data buffer per packet; with this patch it reports none.
References
- nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74621 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/23e97d594ddd0153020c506d5041048fbde1beb4 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/439d3e404f9d5e515911cc8132cde198b337c19e (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/47d99828591d0fe8be4b9c8992ff3b8e47968db9 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/737873a59905a54ca0d2d127ef882f3f88bf4379 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a7ed561671aa6a911a2de99e59ef670a4d0b1df (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b47bb899e04b5407c5a63fe88d4b6676586a6e84 (opens in a new tab)
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/b5dbecc2016e1692fd1c2532af9c41ba729cb747 (opens in a new tab)