CVE-2026-64121 net: ifb: report ethtool stats over num_tx_queues
A local attacker can read adjacent kernel memory via ethtool stats on IFB devices with asymmetric queue counts, potentially exposing sensitive data.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-64121?
CVE-2026-64121 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 19 Jul 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
net: ifb: report ethtool stats over num_tx_queues
ifb_dev_init() allocates dp->tx_private to dev->num_tx_queues entries via kzalloc_objs(*txp, dev->num_tx_queues). Both IFB per-queue RX and TX stats live in those entries: ifb_xmit() updates txp->rx_stats using the skb queue mapping, ifb_ri_tasklet() updates txp->tx_stats, and ifb_stats64() aggregates both over dev->num_tx_queues.
The ethtool stats callbacks instead size and walk the per-queue stats with dev->real_num_rx_queues and dev->real_num_tx_queues. With an asymmetric device where the RX queue count exceeds the TX queue count, for example:
ip link add name ifb10 numtxqueues 1 numrxqueues 8 type ifb ethtool -S ifb10
ifb_get_ethtool_stats() indexes past the tx_private allocation and copies adjacent slab data through ETHTOOL_GSTATS.
Use dev->num_tx_queues consistently for the stats strings, the stats count, and the stats data walks. This reports one RX stats group and one TX stats group for each backing ifb_q_private entry, which is the queue set IFB can actually populate.
Reproduced under UML+KASAN at v7.1-rc2:
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in ifb_fill_stats_data+0x3c/0xae Read of size 8 at addr 0000000062dbd228 by task ethtool/36 ifb_fill_stats_data+0x3c/0xae ifb_get_ethtool_stats+0xc0/0x129 __dev_ethtool+0x1ca5/0x363c dev_ethtool+0x123/0x1b3 dev_ioctl+0x56c/0x744 sock_do_ioctl+0x15f/0x1b2 sock_ioctl+0x4d5/0x50a sys_ioctl+0xd8b/0xde9
With the patch applied, the same UML+KASAN repro is silent and ethtool -S ifb10 reports only the stats backed by the single allocated tx_private entry.
Weakness: CWE-125
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-64121?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2026-64121?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2026-64121 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-64121 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as BELL-CVE-2026-64121, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-64121, GHSA-478c-pq6v-xx69, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-64121.