CVE-2026-23209
macvlan: fix error recovery in macvlan_common_newlink()
Severity Score
Exploit Likelihood
Affected Versions
Public Exploits
0Exploited in Wild
-Decision
Descriptions
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: macvlan: fix error recovery in macvlan_common_newlink() valis provided a nice repro to crash the kernel: ip link add p1 type veth peer p2
ip link set address 00:00:00:00:00:20 dev p1
ip link set up dev p1
ip link set up dev p2 ip link add mv0 link p2 type macvlan mode source
ip link add invalid% link p2 type macvlan mode source macaddr add 00:00:00:00:00:20 ping -c1 -I p1 1.2.3.4 He also gave a very detailed analysis: <quote valis> The issue is triggered when a new macvlan link is created with
MACVLAN_MODE_SOURCE mode and MACVLAN_MACADDR_ADD (or
MACVLAN_MACADDR_SET) parameter, lower device already has a macvlan
port and register_netdevice() called from macvlan_common_newlink()
fails (e.g. because of the invalid link name). In this case macvlan_hash_add_source is called from
macvlan_change_sources() / macvlan_common_newlink(): This adds a reference to vlan to the port's vlan_source_hash using
macvlan_source_entry. vlan is a pointer to the priv data of the link that is being created. When register_netdevice() fails, the error is returned from
macvlan_newlink() to rtnl_newlink_create(): if (ops->newlink) err = ops->newlink(dev, ¶ms, extack); else err = register_netdevice(dev); if (err < 0) { free_netdev(dev); goto out; } and free_netdev() is called, causing a kvfree() on the struct
net_device that is still referenced in the source entry attached to
the lower device's macvlan port. Now all packets sent on the macvlan port with a matching source mac
address will trigger a use-after-free in macvlan_forward_source(). </quote valis> With all that, my fix is to make sure we call macvlan_flush_sources()
regardless of @create value whenever "goto destroy_macvlan_port;"
path is taken. Many thanks to valis for following up on this issue.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: macvlan: fix error recovery in macvlan_common_newlink() valis provided a nice repro to crash the kernel: ip link add p1 type veth peer p2 ip link set address 00:00:00:00:00:20 dev p1 ip link set up dev p1 ip link set up dev p2 ip link add mv0 link p2 type macvlan mode source ip link add invalid% link p2 type macvlan mode source macaddr add 00:00:00:00:00:20 ping -c1 -I p1 1.2.3.4 He also gave a very detailed analysis: <quote valis> The issue is triggered when a new macvlan link is created with MACVLAN_MODE_SOURCE mode and MACVLAN_MACADDR_ADD (or MACVLAN_MACADDR_SET) parameter, lower device already has a macvlan port and register_netdevice() called from macvlan_common_newlink() fails (e.g. because of the invalid link name). In this case macvlan_hash_add_source is called from macvlan_change_sources() / macvlan_common_newlink(): This adds a reference to vlan to the port's vlan_source_hash using macvlan_source_entry. vlan is a pointer to the priv data of the link that is being created. When register_netdevice() fails, the error is returned from macvlan_newlink() to rtnl_newlink_create(): if (ops->newlink) err = ops->newlink(dev, ¶ms, extack); else err = register_netdevice(dev); if (err < 0) { free_netdev(dev); goto out; } and free_netdev() is called, causing a kvfree() on the struct net_device that is still referenced in the source entry attached to the lower device's macvlan port. Now all packets sent on the macvlan port with a matching source mac address will trigger a use-after-free in macvlan_forward_source(). </quote valis> With all that, my fix is to make sure we call macvlan_flush_sources() regardless of @create value whenever "goto destroy_macvlan_port;" path is taken. Many thanks to valis for following up on this issue.
Several vulnerabilities have been discovered in the Linux kernel that may lead to a privilege escalation, denial of service or information leaks. For the stable distribution (trixie), these problems have been fixed in version 6.12.73-1.
CVSS Scores
SSVC
- Decision:-
Timeline
- 2026-01-13 CVE Reserved
- 2026-02-14 CVE Published
- 2026-02-14 CVE Updated
- 2026-03-21 EPSS Updated
- ---------- Exploited in Wild
- ---------- KEV Due Date
- ---------- First Exploit
CWE
CAPEC
References (8)
| URL | Tag | Source |
|---|---|---|
| https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/aa5fd0fb77486b8a6764ead8627baa14790e4280 | Vuln. Introduced |
| URL | Date | SRC |
|---|
| URL | Date | SRC |
|---|
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
| Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status | <-- --> | Vendor | Product | Version | Other | Status |
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 5.10.250 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 5.10.250" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 5.15.200 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 5.15.200" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 6.1.163 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 6.1.163" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 6.6.124 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 6.6.124" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 6.12.70 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 6.12.70" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 6.18.10 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 6.18.10" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
| Linux Search vendor "Linux" | Linux Kernel Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" | >= 4.9 < 6.19 Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " >= 4.9 < 6.19" | en |
Affected
| ||||||
