High [CVE-2026-74621] fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-74621 affecting Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.
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Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: act_ct: fix sk_buff leak when the header checks reject a packet tcf_ct_handle_fragments() runs its header sanity checks before handing anything to the defragmentation engine: if (family == NFPROTO_IPV4) err = tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment(skb, &frag); else err = tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment(skb, &frag); if (err ||!frag) return err; tcf_ct_ipv4_is_fragment() returns -EINVAL or -ENOMEM; tcf_ct_ipv6_is_fragment() adds -EPROTO when ipv6_find_hdr() fails.
None of them frees or queues the skb, so on that path the caller still owns it. tcf_ct_act() however funnels every non-zero return into the ownership-transfer exit: err = tcf_ct_handle_fragments(net, skb, family, p->zone, &defrag); if (err) goto out_frag;... out_frag: if (err!= -EINPROGRESS) tcf_action_inc_drop_qstats(&c->common); return TC_ACT_CONSUMED; TC_ACT_CONSUMED means the action took ownership of the skb, so no caller frees it - sch_handle_ingress(), sch_handle_egress() and tcf_qevent_handle() all deliberately skip the free for that verdict.
The skb is therefore orphaned: one sk_buff plus its data buffer is leaked per malformed packet, unbounded. Note the drop counter is already incremented for these errors, so the statistics claim a drop that never happens.
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 12 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 · medium-confidence parse· fetched 12 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 · medium-confidence parse· fetched 12 days ago·verify at source
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