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CVE-2026-97901: genetlink: pin family module during policy dump

• Severity: unknown
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2026-09-25 · updated 2026-10-30

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: genetlink: pin family module during policy dump The generic netlink controller's policy dump keeps pointers to the target family's operation and policy tables in its callback state. A dump may be split across multiple skbs and remain pending after the initial request. Netlink pins the module which owns the dump callback, but in this case that is the controller's owner rather than the target family's owner. The target family can consequently be unregistered and its module unloaded while a policy dump is pending. Advancing the dump then dereferences policy memory from the unloaded module. Take a reference to the target family's module when the dump starts. Drop it from the error and done paths. This matches the lifetime for which the dump context retains the family and policy pointers.

Affected products

• Linux: 5.8 — fixed in 7.3

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux 7.3. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/1a345d95e59a99e25404138b5a1ec2edcb03269f
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/508387ad95ef9c13aa6431678c39763e882da2dc
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a1094c34d176827b2b173e163dcc964a13af93f
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6d8e653fcf1c90310797eeba8e5fafe9ccc3de9e
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6e4d746e55c83c240cffce92356763d16b236af5
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ee2c0f82354da9bae04b14e0e5b2037d2de48a7
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7f71414c206a0e2babf4ec2756c0d15776c5dfd2
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ad01ec35360e803670168d63a856629d6aeaec48

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