High [CVE-2026-63981] Fix blockcast recursion bypass leading to stack overflow
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-63981 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, Red Hat package: kernel.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_mirred: Fix blockcast recursion bypass leading to stack overflow tcf_mirred_act() checks sched_mirred_nest against MIRRED_NEST_LIMIT (4) to prevent deep recursion.
However, when the action uses blockcast (tcfm_blockid!= 0), the function returns at the tcf_blockcast() call BEFORE reaching the counter increment. As a result, the recursion counter never advances and the limit check is entirely bypassed.
When two devices share a TC egress block with a mirred blockcast rule, a packet egressing on device A is mirrored to device B via blockcast; device B's egress TC re-enters tcf_mirred_act() via blockcast and mirrors back to A, creating an unbounded recursion loop: tcf_mirred_act -> tcf_blockcast -> tcf_mirred_to_dev -> dev_queue_xmit -> sch_handle_egress -> tcf_classify -> tcf_mirred_act -> (repeat) This recursion continues until the kernel stack overflows.
The bug is reachable from an unprivileged user via unshare(CLONE_NEWUSER | CLONE_NEWNET): user namespaces grant CAP_NET_ADMIN in the new network namespace, which is sufficient to create dummy devices, attach clsact qdiscs with shared blocks, and install mirred blockcast filters.
Affected products named by the advisory: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6; Red Hat package: kernel.
- < 7.0.0-rc7
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
Mitigation
The source record does not include mitigation steps. That is not a statement that no fix exists — read the vendor advisory below for the authoritative guidance.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 6 days ago·verify at source
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