Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4 BPF tcp_conn_request rtt_min out-of-bounds

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	2.23

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4 and classified as problematic. Impacted is the function tcp_conn_request of the component BPF. Such manipulation of the argument rtt_min leads to out-of-bounds. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-98643. The attack may be launched remotely. There is no exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.3-rc4. Affected by this issue is the function tcp_conn_request of the component BPF. The manipulation of the argument rtt_min with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-125. The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Fix out-of-bounds read of rtt_min in sock_ops A sockops prog reading skops->rtt_min never checks the sk type: on the tcp_conn_request() path sock_ops->sk is a request_sock (non-full), and the ctx rewrite casts it to a tcp_sock (full) and reads rtt_min past the end of the request_sock, returning dirty adjacent memory. SEC("sockops") int prog(struct bpf_sock_ops *skops) { switch (skops->op) { case BPF_SOCK_OPS_RWND_INIT: leak = skops->rtt_min; /* reads the request_sock OOB */ ... } } For instance one such read returned rtt_min=0xffff8881, the high half of a leaked kernel pointer. Guarding that cast is exactly what SOCK_OPS_GET_FIELD() does -- it checks is_locked_tcp_sock and returns 0 when sock_ops->sk is not a locked full socket. Every other tcp_sock field in sock_ops goes through it; rtt_min is the only one open-coded, so it skips the check. Read rtt_min through SOCK_OPS_GET_FIELD() too. rtt_min is a bit special: it is a struct minmax and we only want the current min, so pass rtt_min.s[0].v. That is equivalent to the old hand-computed offset offsetof(struct tcp_sock, rtt_min) + sizeof_field(struct minmax_sample, t) (s[0] sits at rtt_min + 0 and .v at + sizeof(.t), i.e. what minmax_get() returns), so the loaded field is unchanged and only the full-sock guard is added. The two BUILD_BUG_ON()s that protected the hand-computed offset are no longer needed. Before patch: 0: r1 = *(u64 *)(r1 +0) ; r1 = skops->sk 1: r1 = *(u32 *)(r1 +2324) ; ((tcp_sock *)sk)->rtt_min.s[0].v After patch: 0: *(u64 *)(r1 +56) = r9 1: r9 = *(u8 *)(r1 +50) ; is_locked_tcp_sock 2: if r9 == 0 goto pc+4 ; not a locked full sock -> 0 3: r9 = *(u64 *)(r1 +56) 4: r1 = *(u64 *)(r1 +0) ; r1 = skops->sk 5: r1 = *(u32 *)(r1 +2324) ; rtt_min.s[0].v 6: goto pc+2 7: r9 = *(u64 *)(r1 +56) 8: r1 = 0

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98643 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 10/18/2026).

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 0c796efa919f52f788c22c79d1f1b70321696b3d/fc9d0e6e9d86fbefe7b8fe6ee49f4cf102add79d/fd6bf2721933d8c90bc4ce57f3e204c9295e7e3f/a8a9becbac93a9f54f4d565f1f3005eb08a7912f/3a46f14e6cf375f3ca38f8f6e6524749e24ea0a8/6785313d4fac96afb21ef193610c1fa88b1a9e64/cba54d142c43ec96d8c4d566f66439e8c0afded7/75f8cf22463d82bb1fb0239a3d485fc8f4c8ef03 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

• 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: 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: Out-of-bounds
CWE: CWE-125 / CWE-119
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 5.10.271/5.15.222/6.1.189/6.6.158/6.12.112/6.18.55/7.2.9/7.3-rc5
Patch: 0c796efa919f52f788c22c79d1f1b70321696b3d/fc9d0e6e9d86fbefe7b8fe6ee49f4cf102add79d/fd6bf2721933d8c90bc4ce57f3e204c9295e7e3f/a8a9becbac93a9f54f4d565f1f3005eb08a7912f/3a46f14e6cf375f3ca38f8f6e6524749e24ea0a8/6785313d4fac96afb21ef193610c1fa88b1a9e64/cba54d142c43ec96d8c4d566f66439e8c0afded7/75f8cf22463d82bb1fb0239a3d485fc8f4c8ef03

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-2026-98643 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98643
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-422174

Entryinfo

Created: 10/18/2026 20:50
Changes: 10/18/2026 20:50 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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