CVE-2026-98627: bpf: Preserve packet pointer class displacement in regsafe()
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: Preserve packet pointer class displacement in regsafe()
regsafe() maps packet pointer IDs between states and checks that each current register range is a subset of the corresponding explored register range. It does not, however, preserve the displacement between registers that share a packet pointer ID.
This is unsound because packet range is shared by ID. A bounds check on one class member updates every member, and a later access can consume the range through another member. Commit 022ac0750883 ("bpf: use reg->varoff instead of reg->off for pointers") folded the fixed pointer offset into r64 and removed the old off equality check, so two individually narrower registers can prune even when their displacement has changed. The explored path can then license an out-of-bounds packet access on the pruned path.
Require matching range bases for packet pointers with an ID. Together with the existing ID mapping, this preserves the displacement between members of each packet-pointer class without adding per-ID state. Packet pointers without an ID remain unaffected.
Affected Software
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Are packet pointers without an ID affected by this issue?
No. The change specifically preserves displacement for packet pointers that have an ID; packet pointers without an ID remain unaffected.
What condition does the fix add to prevent unsafe verifier pruning?
It requires packet pointers sharing an ID to have matching range bases, in addition to the existing ID mapping. This preserves the displacement between members of a packet-pointer class.
Which upstream stable commits are provided for checking whether the fix is present?
The supplied stable references point to commits 091b40845bd3cf96791171ca95113e9184ccb596 and fd16449a9b3b31a8f18944c2f0e29e4e218ca2cf.