Medium [CVE-2026-68286] Linux kernel: drop_monitor data corruption due to race condition
This medium-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-68286 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9, Red Hat Enterprise Linux for NVIDIA 26.
Android app · Google Play
Monitor future Red Hat Linux CVEs from your phone.
Choose a whole vendor or a precise platform, then receive matching security advisories by phone notification, email, or both. Coverage follows 32 official vendor sources and 160+ reviewed platform categories.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: drop_monitor: perform u64_stats updates under IRQ-disabled section In net_dm_packet_trace_kfree_skb_hit() and net_dm_hw_trap_packet_probe(), u64_stats_update_begin() / u64_stats_inc() / u64_stats_update_end() were called after spin_unlock_irqrestore(&...drop_queue.lock, flags), when local IRQs had already been re-enabled.
Tracepoint probes can execute in IRQ or softirq context. On 32-bit architectures, u64_stats_update_begin() disables preemption but not interrupts, relying on seqcount writes.
If a nested interrupt occurs on the same CPU during the 64-bit stats update, the reentrant seqcount update can corrupt the seqcount state or stats value. Fix this by performing the 64-bit per-CPU stats update before releasing drop_queue.lock via spin_unlock_irqrestore(), ensuring local interrupts remain disabled during the u64_stats update.
On 32-bit architectures, a race condition can occur during the update of 64-bit statistics. If a nested interrupt happens on the same CPU while these statistics are being updated, it can lead to the corruption of internal sequence counters or the statistical values themselves.
This data corruption could potentially impact system stability or lead to inaccurate monitoring information. Red Hat severity: Moderate — CVSS 5.3 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:H).
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · medium-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours 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 · medium-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours 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 · medium-confidence parse· fetched 2 hours ago·verify at source
Discussion(0)
No comments yet. Share field notes, upgrade gotchas, or questions — verify against the vendor advisory before acting on community advice.
Sign in to join the discussion.