CVE-2026-23351
Published: March 25, 2026· Updated: Mar 25, 2026
Official Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nft_set_pipapo: split gc into unlink and reclaim phase
Yiming Qian reports Use-after-free in the pipapo set type:
Under a large number of expired elements, commit-time GC can run for a very
long time in a non-preemptible context, triggering soft lockup warnings and
RCU stall reports (local denial of service).
We must split GC in an unlink and a reclaim phase.
We cannot queue elements for freeing until pointers have been swapped.
Expired elements are still exposed to both the packet path and userspace
dumpers via the live copy of the data structure.
call_rcu() does not protect us: dump operations or element lookups starting
after call_rcu has fired can still observe the free'd element, unless the
commit phase has made enough progress to swap the clone and live pointers
before any new reader has picked up the old version.
This a similar approach as done recently for the rbtree backend in commit
35f83a75529a ("netfilter: nft_set_rbtree: don't gc elements on insert").
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-23351 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.
Exploitation requires some privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.
Affected Vendors & Products
Exploit & PoC Resources
All References (6)
Quick Facts
Recommended Actions
- →Apply vendor patches immediately
- →Monitor CVE-2026-23351 in threat intel feeds
- →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts