CVE-2026-99201: netlink: avoid hashing the network namespace pointer

Published Oct 28, 2026
·
Updated

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

netlink: avoid hashing the network namespace pointer

The netlink rhashtable key includes a raw struct net pointer and a user-controlled port ID. Both /proc/net/netlink and socket diagnostics expose the table's bucket order. By binding and rebinding chosen NETLINKUSERSOCK port IDs, an unprivileged reader can distinguish equal buckets and recover the low bits of the Jenkins hash. Its 32-bit seed and the limited set of kernel-image slides can then be searched offline to recover the address of initnet.

Use the namespace's unique, non-address netcookie in the comparison key instead. It is assigned before the per-net initializers run and remains unchanged for the namespace's lifetime. The lookup key and object hash are still built by netlinkcomparearginit(), keeping lookup, insertion, removal and rehashing consistent while preserving namespace separation. Neither public table walker needs to change.

Reading the socket's namespace cookie in netlinkcompare() is safe under RCU, including during namespace teardown. netlinkrelease() removes the socket from the hash table and defers its final put with callrcu(). cleanupnet() runs the per-net exit methods and waits for outstanding RCU callbacks with rcubarrier() before freeing namespace storage.

Unlike ns.nsid, netcookie is also available and initialized during setupnet() in older stable kernels, making the change straightforward to backport to v5.15 and later.

Affected Software

1 affected component
Linux Linux kernel

Event History

Oct 28, 2026
CVE Published
via MITRE·10:35 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·10:35 AM
Description

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