CVE-2026-98065: Linux kernel · bpf: Reject key-less BTF for hash maps

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Reject key-less BTF for hash maps map_check_btf() allows a key-less BTF (btf_key_type_id == 0) only for maps that have a ->map_check_btf callback, and leaves the actual decision to that callback. Hash maps used to have no ->map_check_btf, so a key-less BTF was rejected outright. That changed when htab and rhtab gained a ->map_check_btf to register a dtor - htab in commit 1df97a7453ee ("bpf: Register dtor for freeing special fields") and rhtab in commit 6905f8601298 ("bpf: Allow special fields in resizable hashtab"). Neither looks at the key, so a key-less hash map now passes map_check_btf() and gets created. Reading it back through bpffs feeds the key type_id 0 into btf_type_seq_show(); btf_type_by_id() returns the void type, kind_ops[BTF_KIND_UNKN] is NULL, and btf_type_show() dereferences it: RIP: 0010:btf_type_show+0x223/0x2e0 kernel/bpf/btf.c:8232 RSP: 0018:ffffc9000399f868 EFLAGS: 00010206 RAX: dffffc0000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 RDX: 0000000000000005 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000000000028 RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: 0000000000000001 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: ffffc9000399f970 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffffffff9b96b140 R13: ffffc9000399f8e0 R14: ffff88803d393c00 R15: 0000000000000003 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000200000000000 CR3: 000000003d213000 CR4: 0000000000352ef0 DR0: 0000000039ae8f55 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: <TASK> btf_type_seq_show_flags+0xca/0x120 kernel/bpf/btf.c:8250 htab_map_seq_show_elem+0x12e/0x350 kernel/bpf/hashtab.c:1669 map_seq_show+0x13d/0x1e0 kernel/bpf/inode.c:293 traverse.part.0.constprop.0+0x107/0x650 fs/seq_file.c:112 traverse fs/seq_file.c:99 [inline] seq_read_iter+0x93f/0x1270 fs/seq_file.c:196 seq_read+0x344/0x4d0 fs/seq_file.c:163 vfs_read+0x1e4/0xb40 fs/read_write.c:572 ksys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:764 [inline] __do_sys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:772 [inline] __se_sys_pread64 fs/read_write.c:769 [inline] __x64_sys_pread64+0x1eb/0x250 fs/read_write.c:769 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 [inline] do_syscall_64+0x123/0x790 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Reject a key-less BTF in htab_map_check_btf() and rhtab_map_check_btf(), restoring the previous behavior.

• ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-98065 (opens in a new tab)
• cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98065 (opens in a new tab)
• git.kernel.org/stable/c/0895a0c0734703be5532f3883c42db95615fd98b (opens in a new tab)
• git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ca231252820c47aaec42a5db580db98f9b64724 (opens in a new tab)
• nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98065 (opens in a new tab)
• git.kernel.org/stable/c/54098e3fe34ec190bc256b338b9a93c7e2dc9354 (opens in a new tab)
• git.kernel.org/stable/c/fa047f2a025003f5654ebd76539f16a6ead0401a (opens in a new tab)

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