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NVD / CVE Program· CNA Linux

CVE-2026-98043: bpf: Don't infer non-NULL from a pointer with an unbounded offset

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 0/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 0.20% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Fixed version: Linux Linux 019d845a08b8ccfe8eefaaf4bca6870f2b8c58ae, 65bea674f43c09c0eda033a140dfac6a2842a19f, 67b529f521a6676cdfc78b91b0217d7eaa84216b; azl3 kernel 6.6.157.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.0 Release Notes; azl3 kernel 6.6.159.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.161.1-1.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to Linux Linux 019d845a08b8ccfe8eefaaf4bca6870f2b8c58ae, 65bea674f43c09c0eda033a140dfac6a2842a19f, 67b529f521a6676cdfc78b91b0217d7eaa84216b; azl3 kernel 6.6.157.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.0 Release Notes; azl3 kernel 6.6.159.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.161.1-1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: bpf: Don't infer non-NULL from a pointer with an unbounded offset reg_not_null() decides that a register holds a non-NULL value by looking at its type alone. For pointer types that allow arithmetic the type only guarantees a non-NULL base, in case of an unbound offset the runtime offset value might still add up to NULL. Consider the followng program: r6 = bpf_map_lookup_elem(map, &0); /* present */ if (r6 == 0) return 0; r7 = bpf_map_lookup_elem(map, &1); /* absent, NULL at runtime */ r8 = r7; r8 -= r6; /* pointer - pointer: unknown scalar, -r6 */ r8 <<= 1; r8 >>= 1; /* any non-negative offset is accepted by */ /* check_reg_sane_offset_ptr() */ r6 += r8; /* verifier: map value; runtime: zero */ if (r7 != r6) return 0; *(u8 *)(r7 + 0); /* r7 is inferred non-NULL, both are zero */ At runtime both registers are zero, the comparison is true and the load faults with NULL pointer dereference. Require the offset to be within +-BPF_MAX_VAR_OFF in reg_not_null().

—No exploit Fix available
Published
Sep 25, 2026
Updated
Oct 21, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 9th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

0

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
0 / 40 · —
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

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  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

—

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (Linux). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Linux Linux

    • 5.8affected
    • cac616db39c207dc63465a4e05c6ce0e60b2cce4 and later · before 8b414dbe97fcefd116e5a620c3bd9993014aa4ceaffected · git
    • cac616db39c207dc63465a4e05c6ce0e60b2cce4 and later · before 019d845a08b8ccfe8eefaaf4bca6870f2b8c58aeaffected · git
    • cac616db39c207dc63465a4e05c6ce0e60b2cce4 and later · before 65bea674f43c09c0eda033a140dfac6a2842a19faffected · git
    • cac616db39c207dc63465a4e05c6ce0e60b2cce4 and later · before cb6642048739bf4ee5aa09fe465511f1e87caa63affected · git
    • cac616db39c207dc63465a4e05c6ce0e60b2cce4 and later · before 67b529f521a6676cdfc78b91b0217d7eaa84216baffected · git
    • before 5.8not affected · semver
    • 6.6.160 and later · up to and including 6.6.*not affected · semver
    • 6.12.114 and later · up to and including 6.12.*not affected · semver
    • 6.18.57 and later · up to and including 6.18.*not affected · semver

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12linuxfrom 0—
Debian:13linuxbefore 6.12.115-26.12.115-2
Debian:14linuxbefore 7.2.7-17.2.7-1

Same product

linux: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2026-74705udp: fix potential use-after-free in tunnel segmentation
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74612veth: fix skb length accounting after XDP frag adjustment
    40Plan
  • CVE-2026-74475vxlan: use neigh_ha_snapshot() in route_shortcircuit()
    40Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-98041Sep 25, 2026 · bpf: Don't predict JMP32 pointer vs zero comparisons
    28Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2026-98042Sep 25, 2026 · bpf: Don't resurrect a scalar id dropped by collect_linked_regs()
    0Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2026-98044Sep 25, 2026 · bpf: Reject legacy packet loads from callbacks
    0Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Linux Linux019d845a08b8ccfe8eefaaf4bca6870f2b8c58aeVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux65bea674f43c09c0eda033a140dfac6a2842a19fVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux67b529f521a6676cdfc78b91b0217d7eaa84216bVendor (CNA)
Linux Linux8b414dbe97fcefd116e5a620c3bd9993014aa4ceVendor (CNA)
Linux Linuxcb6642048739bf4ee5aa09fe465511f1e87caa63Vendor (CNA)
azl3 kernel 6.6.157.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.0Release NotesMicrosoft (MSRC)
azl3 kernel 6.6.159.1-1 on Azure Linux 3.06.6.161.1-1 · Release NotesMicrosoft (MSRC)
debian:linux6.12.115-2 · Debian:13Package registry (OSV)
debian:linux7.2.7-1 · Debian:14Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Technical details

No CVSS vector for this record, so attack conditions can't be derived.

Weakness class (CWE)

—

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Show all references (4 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records