CVE-2026-99167
NoneCVSS
—
EPSS
0.2%
Published
Oct 28, 2026
CISA due date
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Cloudanix analysis
A flaw in the Linux kernel's network traffic handling can let one part of the system touch memory that another part has already freed, which may crash the machine or let attackers gain more control.
- Exploitation
- Local Privilege
- Attacker needs
- Local User
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Impact
- Privilege Gain
- Component
- OS kernel
- Class
- Use After Free
- Remediation
- Patch
- Effort
- Medium
- Patch risk
- Low
What it actually does
Use-after-free in __tcf_action_put() caused by decrementing reference count before binding count, allowing concurrent free of the action and subsequent write to freed memory during binding-count update under the IDR.
Why it matters to the business
Kernel crashes or potential privilege escalation on systems handling network traffic control actions, disrupting network services and requiring urgent patching across Linux deployments.
How an attack unfolds
An attacker with local access issues concurrent tc commands that manipulate actions, racing the reference and binding decrements so that one thread frees the object while another writes to it, triggering the use-after-free.
How to fix it
Apply the upstream fix that holds the action IDR mutex across both counter updates and IDR removal; rebuild and deploy the patched kernel on all affected systems.
How to confirm the fix worked
Confirm the kernel source contains the mutex-protected update sequence around __tcf_action_put(); run KASAN-enabled tests exercising concurrent tc action put operations and verify absence of slab-use-after-free reports.
Typical attack path
- Obtain local access on a Linux system
- Load or trigger net/sched traffic control actions via tc or equivalent
- Race __tcf_action_put() reference and binding count updates from multiple threads
- Trigger KASAN-detected write to freed slab memory
How to detect it
Search kernel logs and KASAN reports for the exact BUG string 'KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __tcf_action_put' and the task name 'tc-put-pause'; inspect crash dumps for writes to addresses in the ff11000000d46420 range during action cleanup.
- KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __tcf_action_put+0x327/0x340
- Write of size 4 at addr ff11000000d46420 by task tc-put-pause
What your security team should do
- Patch Linux kernels to the fixed version containing the IDR mutex change as soon as available
- Monitor for KASAN or slab-use-after-free crashes involving __tcf_action_put
- Restrict unprivileged local access to tc and netfilter tools until patched
The record
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: fix use-after-free in __tcf_action_put() __tcf_action_put() decrements the reference count before decrementing the binding count. Another thread can free the action between these operations, causing the binding-count update to access freed memory. KASAN reports it as: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in __tcf_action_put+0x327/0x340 Write of size 4 at addr ff11000000d46420 by task tc-put-pause/64 Hold the action IDR mutex across both counter updates and IDR removal, keeping cleanup outside the lock.
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Introduced | Fixed |
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