Denial of service via CAKE length underflow
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Integer underflow in the Linux kernel CAKE scheduler allows local users to disrupt rate accounting through a configured negative overhead. CAKE stores signed overhead in an s16 but adds it to packet length with unsigned arithmetic, so a negative effective length wraps to a very large value. Reachability requires local access and permission to configure CAKE; the bounded consequence is incorrect traffic shaping and denial of service.
Summary
What happened
Integer underflow in the Linux kernel CAKE scheduler allows local users to disrupt rate accounting through a configured negative overhead. CAKE stores signed overhead in an s16 but adds it to packet length with unsigned arithmetic, so a negative effective length wraps to a very large value. Reachability requires local access and permission to configure CAKE; the bounded consequence is incorrect traffic shaping and denial of service.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72326
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-191, T1499
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 15, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 15, 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=4.19
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <297f459865360b46a887667cbf3aac6a6f013841
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <336c1e414fc0e9844d445174e8ada2a7dd8d1c4b
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <7aa0e64fea778a9e3df73e64da95367ff8ad2ea5
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <b7f97cae7ec1b6c3c32843c42be218690d310467
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <bcdf3a3664f7d2c4e37e155f30f72ef33f041804
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <e1df6cff03aad8c96e55a8b2a991e505c7a3ff6f
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <f1e7807df5bf2d42a40266430e9f82f37633cdcf
- Affected versionversion=a729b7f0bd5bf4919306556aed614438f5174537 <f511dd7bf6077aa7afbe72914520553fedaacbb4
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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