Local denial of service via connlabel reference leak
Published Aug 15, 2026 · Updated Aug 15, 2026
Resource leak in the act_ct scheduler action of affected Linux kernels allows local users to exhaust connlabel references via failed RTM_NEWACTION requests. Two bare returns in tcf_ct_fill_params() bypass nf_connlabels_put() before p->put_labels records ownership, leaving net->ct.labels_used incremented. Repeated requests exhaust the connlabel reference allowance and deny further use; reachability requires CAP_NET_ADMIN over a network namespace, including an enabled unprivileged user namespace.
Summary
What happened
Resource leak in the act_ct scheduler action of affected Linux kernels allows local users to exhaust connlabel references via failed RTM_NEWACTION requests. Two bare returns in tcf_ct_fill_params() bypass nf_connlabels_put() before p->put_labels records ownership, leaving net->ct.labels_used incremented. Repeated requests exhaust the connlabel reference allowance and deny further use; reachability requires CAP_NET_ADMIN over a network namespace, including an enabled unprivileged user namespace.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-72430
- Published
- Aug 15, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 15, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- CWE-772, T1499.001
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
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=6.7
- Affected versionversion=70f06c115bcca26ceeebf938e48bc8143668e38b <0c3d8fc87e10e38fe054ece009d6d1f66bef2cd4
- Affected versionversion=70f06c115bcca26ceeebf938e48bc8143668e38b <13b561c893c741635adce3781490a7a1099106c8
- Affected versionversion=70f06c115bcca26ceeebf938e48bc8143668e38b <16e088016f38cf728a0de709c3335cc5a3850476
- Affected versionversion=70f06c115bcca26ceeebf938e48bc8143668e38b <1d51aff78f078af1a80e9496c2f4643f4c0ef0a0
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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