Linux Kernel up to 7.2.9/7.3-rc5 BPF bpf_tramp_image_put use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability described as very critical has been identified in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.9/7.3-rc5. This affects the function bpf_tramp_image_put of the component BPF. The manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-98799. The attack needs to be approached locally. There is no available exploit. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as very critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.9/7.3-rc5. Affected is the function bpf_tramp_image_put of the component BPF. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Skip detached progs in trampoline images that are still in use bpf_tramp_image_put() makes sure a trampoline image is not freed while a task may still be running in it, but nothing similar is done for the progs called by that image. Detach drops the last prog reference right away and the prog is freed after grace periods, on the basis that a task still in the traced function skips the fexit progs once the nop at ip_after_call is patched to a jump. That leaves out a task sleeping in a sleepable prog that runs before the detached one, which no grace period waits for: CPU 0 CPU 1 in image I, sleeping in prog S detach P from I's trampoline -> new image, bpf_tramp_image_put(I) bpf_prog_put(P), last ref grace periods, P freed back from S __bpf_prog_enter(P) call P->bpf_func If S and P are fexit progs the task is already past the patched jump, and fentry only images don't have one. On x86 this is an int3 in poisoned bpf_prog_pack memory: Oops: int3: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 18 UID: 0 PID: 94573 Comm: x169 Not tainted 6.18.44 #1 PREEMPT(lazy) RIP: 0010:0xffffffffc0601d8d Call Trace: <TASK> ? bpf_trampoline_6442515411+0x1a4/0x21b bpf_lsm_bprm_committed_creds+0x5/0x10 security_bprm_committed_creds+0x5f/0x70 begin_new_exec+0x2d6/0x410 ... We hit this in production when progs attached through trampolines got detached while their hooks were busy, and it was independently found with a fuzzer and KASAN. Have the JITs emit a patchable nop in front of each prog call sequence and record it in the image. When a prog is detached, patch its nop to a jump over the call sequence. Progs that stay attached keep running for the tasks that are in the image, and ip_after_call isn't needed anymore. The task can be in any image that isn't freed yet, not only in the current one. It sleeps in image I1 that calls S, P and Q, then P is detached and the trampoline moves to image I2, then Q is detached and its call is still in I1. So the trampoline keeps a list of its images until they are freed, and detaching a prog patches its nop in all of them. Images hold a reference on the trampoline for that long. On riscv and loongarch a jump of any range takes several instructions, and a task preempted in the middle of them could resume into half of the new sequence. The nop is a single instruction there, patched to a near branch through arch_bpf_trampoline_skip(). With the extra nops, BPF_MAX_TRAMP_LINKS progs no longer fit in a page on x86 and arm64 (and already didn't on powerpc), so lower the limit there like s390 does.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-98799 since 09/25/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. Additional levels of successful authentication are necessary for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.10 or 7.3-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 967566ad325b42150483e81acb09ea9d800c00b8/17637e1a581a22466ac3620a91e099683ff9cc6f is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.2.7
• 7.2.8
• 7.2.9
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4
• 7.3-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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Entryinfo

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