CVE-2026-72430 json
net/sched: act_ct: fix nf_connlabels leak on two error paths
published 2026-08-15 2 mo ago modified 2026-08-17 2 mo ago also EUVD-2026-59329
- cvss
- —
- not scored
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 11%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net/sched: act_ct: fix nf_connlabels leak on two error paths
tcf_ct_fill_params() calls nf_connlabels_get() (setting put_labels) when TCA_CT_LABELS is present, but two later error sites use a bare return instead of "goto err", skipping the err: nf_connlabels_put() cleanup. They also precede the "p->put_labels = put_labels" assignment, so the tcf_ct_params_free() fallback does not release the count either. Each failed RTM_NEWACTION on these paths leaks one nf_connlabels reference: net->ct.labels_used is incremented and never released. The action is reachable with CAP_NET_ADMIN over the netns, i.e. from an unprivileged user namespace on default-userns kernels.
Impact: an unprivileged user with CAP_NET_ADMIN over a network namespace (e.g. via user namespaces) leaks one nf_connlabels reference per failed RTM_NEWACTION on the two error paths; net->ct.labels_used is never released.
The err: label is safe to reach from both sites: p->tmpl is still NULL there (kzalloc'd, not yet assigned) and nf_ct_put(NULL) is a no-op, so no inline release is needed.
Patch / fix
- Linux Linux 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
- linux Debian 13 6.12.100-1
- linux Debian 14 7.1.5-1
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2026-72430
- linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-147.147
- linux Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-38.38
- linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1067.70
- linux-aws Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1071.79
- linux-gcp Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1014.14
- linux-gke Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1066.74
- linux-gke Ubuntu 26.04 LTS 7.0.0-1008.9
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2026-72430
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel-rt Linux Micro 6.2 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-64kb SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-source SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-default SLES 16.0, SLE High Availability Extension 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2 +1 more 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-default-base SLES 16.0, Linux Micro 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1.160000.2.23
- kernel-syms SLES 16.0, Linux Micro Extras 6.2, SLES for SAP applications 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-azure SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-obs-qa SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:23887-1SUSE-SU-2026:23902-1SUSE-SU-2026:23897-1SUSE-SU-2026:23881-1
- kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-64kb openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-azure openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-source openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
- kernel-default openSUSE Leap 16.0 6.12.0-160000.38.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21910-1
Vendor advisories
What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.
red hat product security vex CVE-2026-72430 updated cvss 5.5
kernel: net/sched: act_ct: fix nf_connlabels leak on two error paths
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 kernelaffected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-selftests-internalnot affected: vulnerable code not present
Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf
Exploit prediction
0.21% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 11% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
Affected products
- Linux Linux
Classification
- Technology feeds
References
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-72430
- NVD CVE-2026-72430
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