CVE-2026-98584: net/sched: fix potential stack infoleak in em_text_dump()

Published Oct 18, 2026
·
Updated

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: fix potential stack infoleak in emtextdump()

emtextdump() allocates struct tcfemtext on the stack without zeroing it. strscpy() writes the algorithm name and a NUL terminator into conf.algo[], leaving the remaining bytes uninitialised. nlaputnohdr() then copies the full struct to the netlink response.

KMSAN on Linux 7.2-rc6 reports two kernel-infoleak splats from this path, one triggered via "tc filter show" and one via a raw RTMGETTFILTER dump:

BUG: KMSAN: kernel-infoleak in copytoiter+0x1c9/0x2620 nlaputnohdr+0x83/0x130 emtextdump+0x291/0x550 Local variable conf created at: emtextdump+0x5d/0x550 Bytes 168-179 of 199 are uninitialized

I am not certain whether this constitutes a real security problem in practice: the test was conducted in a controlled KMSAN environment and the leaked stack bytes may or may not carry sensitive data on actual production kernels. I am reporting it because KMSAN flagged it as a kernel-infoleak and the fix is straightforward. I can provide a userspace reproducer on request.

The original code used strncpy() which zero-pads to the destination size. Commit b04202d6065c ("net/sched: replace strncpy with strscpy") replaced it with strscpy(), which does not pad, creating this condition. Zero-initialising the struct closes it.

Affected Software

129 affected componentsFixes available
Linux Linux kernel
ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.0*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.3*
ubuntu/linux-azure*
ubuntu/linux-azure-5.3*
ubuntu/linux-azure-edge*
ubuntu/linux-gcp*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.3*
ubuntu/linux-gke-4.15*
ubuntu/linux-gke-5.4*
ubuntu/linux-gkeop-5.4*
ubuntu/linux-hwe*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-edge*
ubuntu/linux-oem*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.0*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.3*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-azure-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-azure-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-azure-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-gke*
ubuntu/linux-gke-5.15*
ubuntu/linux-gkeop*
ubuntu/linux-gkeop-5.15*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-intel-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-oem-5.10*
ubuntu/linux-oem-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-oem-5.6*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.13*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-raspi2*
ubuntu/linux-riscv*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.11*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.8*
ubuntu/linux-allwinner-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-aws-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-aws-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-aws-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-azure-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-azure-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-azure-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-intel-iot-realtime*
ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-oem-5.17*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.0*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.1*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-realtime*
ubuntu/linux-riscv*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-starfive-5.19*
ubuntu/linux-starfive-6.2*
ubuntu/linux-starfive-6.5*
ubuntu/linux-aws-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-aws-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-aws-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-azure-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-azure-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-azure-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-azure-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-azure-nvidia-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-gcp-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-hwe-7.0<7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
ubuntu/linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.11*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-oem-6.8*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-oracle-7.0*
ubuntu/linux-raspi-realtime*
ubuntu/linux-realtime*
ubuntu/linux-riscv*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-6.17*
ubuntu/linux-riscv-7.0<7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1
7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1
ubuntu/linux-realtime-6.14*
ubuntu/linux-realtime-6.17*
ubuntu/linux<7.0.0-42.42
7.0.0-42.42
ubuntu/linux-aws<7.0.0-1016.17
7.0.0-1016.17
ubuntu/linux-azure*
ubuntu/linux-azure-fde*
ubuntu/linux-gcp<7.0.0-1016.18
7.0.0-1016.18
ubuntu/linux-gke*
ubuntu/linux-ibm<7.0.0-1017.17
7.0.0-1017.17
ubuntu/linux-nvidia*
ubuntu/linux-nvidia-bos*
ubuntu/linux-oem-7.0<7.0.0-1017.17
7.0.0-1017.17
ubuntu/linux-oracle<7.0.0-1015.16
7.0.0-1015.16
ubuntu/linux-raspi*
ubuntu/linux-realtime*
ubuntu/linux-riscv<7.0.0-42.42.1
7.0.0-42.42.1

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-hwe-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-riscv-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42.1~24.04.1
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42
  4. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-aws to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-1016.17
  5. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-gcp to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-1016.18
  6. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-ibm to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-1017.17
  7. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-oem-7.0 to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-1017.17
  8. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-oracle to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-1015.16
  9. Upgrade

    Upgrade ubuntu/linux-riscv to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 7.0.0-42.42.1
  10. Compensating control

    Zero-initialize the struct tcf_em_text allocated on the stack in em_text_dump() before copying the algorithm name, so the full struct copied by nla_put_nohdr() cannot contain uninitialized bytes.

Event History

Oct 18, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·03:18 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·03:18 PM
Description
Data Sourced
via OSV·04:17 PM
DescriptionSeverityAffected Software
Data Sourced
via NVD·04:17 PM
Description

Frequently Asked Questions

1

What operations have been observed to trigger the leak?

KMSAN reports were triggered by a "tc filter show" request and by a raw RTM_GETTFILTER netlink dump. Both reach em_text_dump(), which returns the affected structure in a netlink response.

2

What information could be disclosed?

The response can include uninitialized bytes from the kernel stack. Specifically, bytes remaining in the algorithm-name field after strscpy() are copied as part of the full struct tcf_em_text.

3

How can an environment identify this issue?

A KMSAN-enabled kernel can report a kernel-infoleak originating in nla_put_nohdr() through em_text_dump(), with the uninitialized local variable identified as conf. The report notes bytes 168 through 179 of the 199-byte structure as uninitialized in the observed case.

4

Is the practical security impact confirmed on production kernels?

The report does not confirm that sensitive data is exposed on production kernels. The finding was observed in a controlled KMSAN environment, and the leaked stack contents may or may not be sensitive in practice.

Contact

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