Linux Kernel nf_tables Catchall Element Processing Vulnerability
CVE-2026-23278 Published on March 20, 2026
netfilter: nf_tables: always walk all pending catchall elements
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
netfilter: nf_tables: always walk all pending catchall elements
During transaction processing we might have more than one catchall element:
1 live catchall element and 1 pending element that is coming as part of the
new batch.
If the map holding the catchall elements is also going away, its
required to toggle all catchall elements and not just the first viable
candidate.
Otherwise, we get:
WARNING: ./include/net/netfilter/nf_tables.h:1281 at nft_data_release+0xb7/0xe0 [nf_tables], CPU#2: nft/1404
RIP: 0010:nft_data_release+0xb7/0xe0 [nf_tables]
[..]
__nft_set_elem_destroy+0x106/0x380 [nf_tables]
nf_tables_abort_release+0x348/0x8d0 [nf_tables]
nf_tables_abort+0xcf2/0x3ac0 [nf_tables]
nfnetlink_rcv_batch+0x9c9/0x20e0 [..]
Products Associated with CVE-2026-23278
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for Linux Kernel? stack.watch will email you.
Affected Versions
Linux:- Version 628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 and below de47a88c6b807910f05703fb6605f7efdaa11417 is affected.
- Version 628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 and below 77c26b5056d693ffe5e9f040e946251cdb55ae55 is affected.
- Version 628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 and below 7cb9a23d7ae40a702577d3d8bacb7026f04ac2a9 is affected.
- Version bc9f791d2593f17e39f87c6e2b3a36549a3705b1 is affected.
- Version 3c7ec098e3b588434a8b07ea9b5b36f04cef1f50 is affected.
- Version a136b7942ad2a50de708f76ea299ccb45ac7a7f9 is affected.
- Version 25aa2ad37c2162be1c0bc4fe6397f7e4c13f00f8 is affected.
- Version d60be2da67d172aecf866302c91ea11533eca4d9 is affected.
- Version dc7cdf8cbcbf8b13de1df93f356ec04cdeef5c41 is affected.
- Version 6.4 is affected.
- Before 6.4 is unaffected.
- Version 6.18.19, <= 6.18.* is unaffected.
- Version 6.19.9, <= 6.19.* is unaffected.
- Version 7.0-rc4, <= * is unaffected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.