High severity · published Apr 22, 2026
CVE-2026-31469
virtio_net: Fix UAF on dst_ops when IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE is cleared and napi_tx is false
7.8
CVSS
0.1%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
virtio_net: Fix UAF on dst_ops when IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE is cleared and napi_tx is false
A UAF issue occurs when the virtio_net driver is configured with napi_tx=N
and the device's IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE flag is cleared
(e.g., during the configuration of tc route filter rules).
When IFF_XMIT_DST_RELEASE is removed from the net_device, the network stack
expects the driver to hold the reference to skb->dst until the packet
is fully transmitted and freed. In virtio_net with napi_tx=N,
skbs may remain in the virtio transmit ring for an extended period.
If the network namespace is destroyed while these skbs are still pending,
the corresponding dst_ops structure has freed. When a subsequent packet
is transmitted, free_old_xmit() is triggered to clean up old skbs.
It then calls dst_release() on the skb associated with the stale dst_entry.
Since the dst_ops (referenced by the dst_entry) has already been freed,
a UAF kernel paging request occurs.
fix it by adds skb_dst_drop(skb) in start_xmit to explicitly release
the dst reference before the skb is queued in virtio_net.
Call Trace:
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffff80007e150000
CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 6236 Comm: ping Kdump: loaded Not tainted 7.0.0-rc1+ #6 PREEMPT
...
percpu_counter_add_batch+0x3c/0x158 lib/percpu_counter.c:98 (P)
dst_release+0xe0/0x110 net/core/dst.c:177
skb_release_head_state+0xe8/0x108 net/core/skbuff.c:1177
sk_skb_reason_drop+0x54/0x2d8 net/core/skbuff.c:1255
dev_kfree_skb_any_reason+0x64/0x78 net/core/dev.c:3469
napi_consume_skb+0x1c4/0x3a0 net/core/skbuff.c:1527
__free_old_xmit+0x164/0x230 drivers/net/virtio_net.c:611 [virtio_net]
free_old_xmit drivers/net/virtio_net.c:1081 [virtio_net]
start_xmit+0x7c/0x530 drivers/net/virtio_net.c:3329 [virtio_net]
...
Reproduction Steps:
NETDEV="enp3s0"
config_qdisc_route_filter() {
tc qdisc del dev $NETDEV root
tc qdisc add dev $NETDEV root handle 1: prio
tc filter add dev $NETDEV parent 1:0 \
protocol ip prio 100 route to 100 flowid 1:1
ip route add 192.168.1.100/32 dev $NETDEV realm 100
}
test_ns() {
ip netns add testns
ip link set $NETDEV netns testns
ip netns exec testns ifconfig $NETDEV 10.0.32.46/24
ip netns exec testns ping -c 1 10.0.32.1
ip netns del testns
}
config_qdisc_route_filter
test_ns
sleep 2
test_ns
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.1% · higher than 3% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
KE
Kernel · Linux
2.6.26 before 5.10.253; 5.11 before 5.15.203; 5.16 before 6.1.168; 6.2 before 6.6.131; 6.7 before 6.12.80; 6.13 before 6.18.21; +6 more · source: NVD
LI
Linux · Linux
f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before be0e63f3b97bbaf453c542e8a15ba2a536e2ac01; f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before c1ec36cb3768574b916f20d2d7415fd14fa1bf12; f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before 8a4790850e710fd6771e4d2112168ed1dd6c0e54; f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before fedd2e1630cac920844997227ccbe7b26a76375a; f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before f04733c4dc40c43899c3d1c97afbae5831a3770f; f2fc6a54585a1be6669613a31fbaba2ecbadcd36 before 9a18629f2525781f0f3dda7be72b204e4cf77d08; +3 more · source: vendor
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7; V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
SS
SIPLUS S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP · Siemens
V3.1.6; V3.1.5; V3.1.7 · source: CISA
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31469
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-31469
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/63d45077b97bb0e0fe0c75931acbbca7a47af141
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a4790850e710fd6771e4d2112168ed1dd6c0e54
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a18629f2525781f0f3dda7be72b204e4cf77d08
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ba8bda9a0896746053aa97ac6c3e08168729172c
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be0e63f3b97bbaf453c542e8a15ba2a536e2ac01
Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/c1ec36cb3768574b916f20d2d7415fd14fa1bf12
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