Connection denial via leaked conntrack references
Published Jan 23, 2026 · Updated Jan 23, 2026
Resource leakage in Linux Kernel netfilter allows remote attackers to interrupt new connections via crafted packet flows. The __nf_conncount_add and insert_tree paths return without releasing a refcounted conntrack object obtained from the packet. A reachable host must process traffic through a raw-table connlimit rule before conntrack attachment; repeated flows can exhaust per-namespace conntrack counts or stall namespace cleanup.
Summary
What happened
Resource leakage in Linux Kernel netfilter allows remote attackers to interrupt new connections via crafted packet flows. The __nf_conncount_add and insert_tree paths return without releasing a refcounted conntrack object obtained from the packet. A reachable host must process traffic through a raw-table connlimit rule before conntrack attachment; repeated flows can exhaust per-namespace conntrack counts or stall namespace cleanup.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-71146
- Published
- Jan 23, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 23, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux Kernel
- Classifications
- CWE-401, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 23, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=3558faee8aace3541189c3a2ca45c7e85e144b44 <0b88be7211d21a0d68bb1e56dc805944e3654d6f
- Affected versionversion=6.19-rc1
- Affected versionversion=6e86f0eca857ee42787e30e9ec0b726aebfcae0a <08fa37f4c8c59c294e9c18fea2d083ee94074e5a
- Affected versionversion=8c2da7330214ce30f8333d1799a27ed0a9418f07
- Affected versionversion=8d5a2c94c24dcc226863a7c2b5034750370c2189 <f381a33f34dda9e4023e38ba68c943bca83245e9
- Affected versionversion=b160895d6bc9690459b16ef87799c9bd456af3ec <e1ac8dce3a893641bef224ad057932f142b8a36f
- Affected versionversion=be102eb6a0e7c03db00e50540622f4e43b2d2844 <2e2a720766886190a6d35c116794693aabd332b6
- Affected versionversion=da9f247fb5efcd5a2730cdc989291b383c439e10 <325eb61bb30790ea27782203a17b007ce1754a67
- Affected versionversion=f6904ed15ed1a188543057e3cb0d02daa80edfc9 <4bd2b89f4028f250dd1c1625eb3da1979b04a5e8
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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