Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4 atl1e infinite loop

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.
7.2	$0-$5k	0.89

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4. It has been classified as critical. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component atl1e. The manipulation leads to infinite loop. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-98488. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4. This issue affects an unknown code block of the component atl1e. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a infinite loop vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-835. The product contains an iteration or loop with an exit condition that cannot be reached, i.e., an infinite loop. Impacted is availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: atl1e: fix soft lockup on out-of-range hw_next_to_clean read Same issue as atl1c (see the first commit in this series, "net: atl1c: fix soft lockup on out-of-range tpd_cons read"): the hardware can report an out-of-range hw_next_to_clean (seen as 0xffff) while the PCIe link/MAC is resetting. An out-of-range value can never be reached and the loop below would spin forever. Treat it as "nothing new to clean" instead.

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-98488 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1499 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 or 7.3-rc5 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch ca862b1a4af7eac19429ca7ab92625f94ff4a46c/4bbb44075bd3e773d61706882ab923ece8b3b519/34bc747a61bef572244b01b095552b629cd8d2a2/1d8c85359b5075c7937925b673add7ed00e57ec8/a277422d194c62daa1b961f5f739689e53fe7301/4b7161804d8f31227551901f93947bb4eea4690b/3a7d9271b37c80fb7db04aff3bc5621cfdaf9bee/374bf9e4b90f979e052332c4faca2d745c491a12 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 5.10.270
• 5.15.221
• 6.1.188
• 6.6.157
• 6.12.111
• 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
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 6.18.53
• 6.18.54
• 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
• 7.3-rc1
• 7.3-rc2
• 7.3-rc3
• 7.3-rc4

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: 7.5
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 7.2

VulDB Base Score: 7.5
VulDB Temp Score: 7.2
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: Infinite loop
CWE: CWE-835 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

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 5.10.271/5.15.222/6.1.189/6.6.158/6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5
Patch: ca862b1a4af7eac19429ca7ab92625f94ff4a46c/4bbb44075bd3e773d61706882ab923ece8b3b519/34bc747a61bef572244b01b095552b629cd8d2a2/1d8c85359b5075c7937925b673add7ed00e57ec8/a277422d194c62daa1b961f5f739689e53fe7301/4b7161804d8f31227551901f93947bb4eea4690b/3a7d9271b37c80fb7db04aff3bc5621cfdaf9bee/374bf9e4b90f979e052332c4faca2d745c491a12

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/18/2026 +23 days Advisory disclosed
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/18/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98488 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98488
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-422147

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 20:41
Changes: 10/18/2026 20:41 (58)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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