Linux Kernel up to 7.1.8 act_gact/act_police net/sched tcf_action_check_ctrlact TCA_GACT_PROB.paction/TCA_POLICE_RESULT input validation

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.5	$0-$5k	0.86-

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.8. It has been classified as problematic. This affects the function tcf_action_check_ctrlact of the file net/sched of the component act_gact/act_police. The manipulation of the argument TCA_GACT_PROB.paction/TCA_POLICE_RESULT leads to input validation. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-74620. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.1.8 and classified as problematic. This issue affects the function tcf_action_check_ctrlact of the file net/sched of the component act_gact/act_police. The manipulation of the argument TCA_GACT_PROB.paction/TCA_POLICE_RESULT with an unknown input leads to a input validation vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-20. The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_gact, act_police: range check the fallback control action tcf_action_check_ctrlact() range checks the primary control action: if (!opcode) ret = action > TC_ACT_VALUE_MAX ? -EINVAL : 0; TC_ACT_VALUE_MAX is TC_ACT_TRAP, so kernel-internal verdicts above it cannot be set that way. But act_gact and act_police each carry a second, independent control action supplied by user space that never reaches that helper - TCA_GACT_PROB.paction and TCA_POLICE_RESULT. Both only reject TC_ACT_GOTO_CHAIN, so any other value is stored verbatim and returned verbatim from the action. In particular user space can store TC_ACT_CONSUMED, which is TC_ACT_VALUE_MAX + 1 and is deliberately not part of the UAPI value range. That verdict tells every caller the action took ownership of the skb, so nobody frees it: sch_handle_ingress(), sch_handle_egress() and tcf_qevent_handle() all deliberately skip the free for it. The result is one leaked sk_buff plus its data buffer per packet traversing the filter, unbounded, for all traffic on the chain including kernel-generated packets. Both are trivially deterministic. act_gact clamps tcfg_pval to >= 1, so with pval = 1 gact_determ() returns the fallback for every packet. act_police has no mandatory rate, so rate = 0 leaves tcfp_mtu = ~0 and tcf_police_mtu_check() always passes. TC_ACT_CONSUMED was added by commit 720f22fed81b ("net: sched: refactor reinsert action"), after both goto-chain guards were written: commit 9469f375ab09 ("net/sched: act_gact: disallow 'goto chain' on fallback control action") and commit c08f5ed5d625 ("net/sched: act_police: disallow 'goto chain' on fallback control action"). Neither guard was widened when the new verdict appeared. Factor the existing range test out of tcf_action_check_ctrlact() as tcf_action_valid() and apply it to both fallbacks. The helper cannot call tcf_action_check_ctrlact() directly because that also allocates a goto_chain, which is exactly what these two sites must not do. Reproduced on v7.2-rc6: kmemleak reports one leaked 232-byte skbuff_head_cache object plus its 704-byte data buffer per packet. With this patch both configurations are rejected with -EINVAL and kmemleak reports none.

The advisory is shared at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-74620 since 08/15/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. The exploitation requires an enhanced level of successful authentication. Technical details are known, but no exploit is available. The price for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/22/2026).

Upgrading to version 5.15.216, 6.1.183, 6.6.152, 6.12.104, 6.18.45 or 7.1.9 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch efa58aeb6a99028b1fbc3ab2f31ba3a881211ad4/725efc2ab4a40affc4e285a2dc4896d103948a6c/6bcb8839aa2d686964a4154650afc4db91e1c514/5344e01179baa37547ab29fd7b8614f83faa190c/92f00f1d4d204a428b38e26fce3baee144b6955d/2e8df8c9190335475a3b64a159d3efd8cdd1cb73/883b56ae58fe657d8497806c7059646e9ba6dbd0 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.15.215
• 6.1.182
• 6.6.151
• 6.12.103
• 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
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4
• 7.1.5
• 7.1.6
• 7.1.7
• 7.1.8

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.7
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.5

VulDB Base Score: 4.7
VulDB Temp Score: 4.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Input validation
CWE: CWE-20
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 5.15.216/6.1.183/6.6.152/6.12.104/6.18.45/7.1.9
Patch: efa58aeb6a99028b1fbc3ab2f31ba3a881211ad4/725efc2ab4a40affc4e285a2dc4896d103948a6c/6bcb8839aa2d686964a4154650afc4db91e1c514/5344e01179baa37547ab29fd7b8614f83faa190c/92f00f1d4d204a428b38e26fce3baee144b6955d/2e8df8c9190335475a3b64a159d3efd8cdd1cb73/883b56ae58fe657d8497806c7059646e9ba6dbd0

Timelineinfo

08/15/2026 CVE reserved
08/22/2026 +7 days Advisory disclosed
08/22/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/22/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-74620 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-74620
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-394385

Entryinfo

Created: 08/22/2026 18:05
Changes: 08/22/2026 18:05 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Discussion

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