Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5 privilege escalation

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5. The impacted element is an unknown function. The manipulation results in an unknown weakness. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-43234. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.18.15/6.19.5. The impact remains unknown. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: team: avoid NETDEV_CHANGEMTU event when unregistering slave syzbot is reporting unregister_netdevice: waiting for netdevsim0 to become free. Usage count = 3 ref_tracker: netdev@ffff88807dcf8618 has 1/2 users at __netdev_tracker_alloc include/linux/netdevice.h:4400 [inline] netdev_hold include/linux/netdevice.h:4429 [inline] inetdev_init+0x201/0x4e0 net/ipv4/devinet.c:286 inetdev_event+0x251/0x1610 net/ipv4/devinet.c:1600 notifier_call_chain+0x19d/0x3a0 kernel/notifier.c:85 call_netdevice_notifiers_mtu net/core/dev.c:2318 [inline] netif_set_mtu_ext+0x5aa/0x800 net/core/dev.c:9886 netif_set_mtu+0xd7/0x1b0 net/core/dev.c:9907 dev_set_mtu+0x126/0x260 net/core/dev_api.c:248 team_port_del+0xb07/0xcb0 drivers/net/team/team_core.c:1333 team_del_slave drivers/net/team/team_core.c:1936 [inline] team_device_event+0x207/0x5b0 drivers/net/team/team_core.c:2929 notifier_call_chain+0x19d/0x3a0 kernel/notifier.c:85 call_netdevice_notifiers_extack net/core/dev.c:2281 [inline] call_netdevice_notifiers net/core/dev.c:2295 [inline] __dev_change_net_namespace+0xcb7/0x2050 net/core/dev.c:12592 do_setlink+0x2ce/0x4590 net/core/rtnetlink.c:3060 rtnl_changelink net/core/rtnetlink.c:3776 [inline] __rtnl_newlink net/core/rtnetlink.c:3935 [inline] rtnl_newlink+0x15a9/0x1be0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:4072 rtnetlink_rcv_msg+0x7d5/0xbe0 net/core/rtnetlink.c:6958 netlink_rcv_skb+0x232/0x4b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2550 netlink_unicast_kernel net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1318 [inline] netlink_unicast+0x80f/0x9b0 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1344 netlink_sendmsg+0x813/0xb40 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1894 problem. Ido Schimmel found steps to reproduce ip link add name team1 type team ip link add name dummy1 mtu 1499 master team1 type dummy ip netns add ns1 ip link set dev dummy1 netns ns1 ip -n ns1 link del dev dummy1 and also found that the same issue was fixed in the bond driver in commit f51048c3e07b ("bonding: avoid NETDEV_CHANGEMTU event when unregistering slave"). Let's do similar thing for the team driver, with commit ad7c7b2172c3 ("net: hold netdev instance lock during sysfs operations") and commit 303a8487a657 ("net: s/__dev_set_mtu/__netif_set_mtu/") also applied.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-43234 since 05/01/2026. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 06/22/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 321690 (SUSE SLES12 Security Update : kernel (SUSE-SU-2026:2450-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.18.16 or 6.19.6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch bce42728ac4887060a24a585c5122fbd24939db7/5268892de70f0b29bde341db863b234aa9259c08/bb4c698633c0e19717586a6524a33196cff01a32 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (321690). VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.19.0
• 6.19.1
• 6.19.2
• 6.19.3
• 6.19.4
• 6.19.5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

CVSSv3info

CVSSv2info

Exploitinginfo

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Countermeasuresinfo

Timelineinfo

Sourcesinfo

Entryinfo

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Discussion