CVE-2026-74465

net: openvswitch: fix potential UAF on meter attach failure

Published Aug 15, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: openvswitch: fix potential UAF on meter attach failure

While attaching a newly created meter attach_meter() function makes
the new meter visible to other CPUs but can still fail afterwards.
On failure, it detaches the meter back and returns an error.

However, this is an unexpected behavior for the ovs_meter_cmd_set()
that uses a plain kfree(meter) on attach failure without waiting for
RCU readers to stop using it, assuming it was never visible.

This is never a problem for ovs-vswitchd as it always creates meters
before creating any flows that use them. But the UAF can be triggered
with a custom application using uAPI:

BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ovs_meter_execute (net/openvswitch/meter.c:653)
Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810d152650 by task meter/2508

Call Trace:
ovs_meter_execute (net/openvswitch/meter.c:653)
do_execute_actions (net/openvswitch/actions.c:1407)
ovs_execute_actions (net/openvswitch/actions.c:1584)
ovs_packet_cmd_execute (net/openvswitch/datapath.c:703)
...
netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900)

Allocated by task 2519:
__kasan_kmalloc (mm/kasan/common.c:398 mm/kasan/common.c:415)
ovs_meter_cmd_set (net/openvswitch/meter.c:422)
...
netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900)

Freed by task 2519:
kfree (mm/slub.c:2705 mm/slub.c:6405 mm/slub.c:6720)
ovs_meter_cmd_set (net/openvswitch/meter.c:479)
...
netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900)

Fix that by making sure attach_meter() doesn't make the meter visible
until all the checks are done and the function can't fail anymore.

This also makes sure the "hash" value is calculated after the potential
re-sizing of the table.

Reported by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative as ZDI-CAN-31642.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4777-1 linux security update
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4788-1 linux-6.12 security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6466-1 linux security update
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8876-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8875-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8877-1 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8878-1 Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8879-1 Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8875-2 Linux kernel (NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9019-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9020-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9022-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9023-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9024-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9025-1 Linux kernel vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9026-1 Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9029-1 Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9039-1 Linux kernel (Azure CVM) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9040-1 Linux kernel (Low Latency NVIDIA) vulnerabilities
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-9066-1 Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-416
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-416
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-416
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: openvswitch: fix potential UAF on meter attach failure While attaching a newly created meter attach_meter() function makes the new meter visible to other CPUs but can still fail afterwards. On failure, it detaches the meter back and returns an error. However, this is an unexpected behavior for the ovs_meter_cmd_set() that uses a plain kfree(meter) on attach failure without waiting for RCU readers to stop using it, assuming it was never visible. This is never a problem for ovs-vswitchd as it always creates meters before creating any flows that use them. But the UAF can be triggered with a custom application using uAPI: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in ovs_meter_execute (net/openvswitch/meter.c:653) Read of size 8 at addr ffff88810d152650 by task meter/2508 Call Trace: ovs_meter_execute (net/openvswitch/meter.c:653) do_execute_actions (net/openvswitch/actions.c:1407) ovs_execute_actions (net/openvswitch/actions.c:1584) ovs_packet_cmd_execute (net/openvswitch/datapath.c:703) ... netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900) Allocated by task 2519: __kasan_kmalloc (mm/kasan/common.c:398 mm/kasan/common.c:415) ovs_meter_cmd_set (net/openvswitch/meter.c:422) ... netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900) Freed by task 2519: kfree (mm/slub.c:2705 mm/slub.c:6405 mm/slub.c:6720) ovs_meter_cmd_set (net/openvswitch/meter.c:479) ... netlink_sendmsg (af_netlink.c:1900) Fix that by making sure attach_meter() doesn't make the meter visible until all the checks are done and the function can't fail anymore. This also makes sure the "hash" value is calculated after the potential re-sizing of the table. Reported by Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative as ZDI-CAN-31642.
Title net: openvswitch: fix potential UAF on meter attach failure
First Time appeared Linux
Linux linux Kernel
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Linux
Linux linux Kernel
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Linux
Published
Updated
Oct 16, 2026, 7:05 PM
Reserved
Aug 15, 2026, 5:44 AM
Status
Received
Published
Aug 15, 2026, 1:17 PM
Modified
Oct 16, 2026, 8:17 PM
Severity
Moderate
Public date
Aug 15, 2026, 12:00 AM