# CVE-2026-74267: net/sched: sch_codel: Do not call qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog during peek before restoring qlen

> A race condition in the Linux kernel's CoDel scheduler causes wild memory access, leading to system crashes or potential code execution.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 16 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2026-74267, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-74267, GHSA-f72g-gj5h-9p7f, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-74267

## What is CVE-2026-74267?

CVE-2026-74267 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net/sched: sch_codel: Do not call qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog during peek before restoring qlen

Whenever codel drops packets during peek, it calls
qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog. An issue arises because it calls
qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog before it reincrements the qlen. If qlen drops
to zero, but peek returns an skb, the parent's qlen_notify callback will
be executed even though codel still has 1 packet on the queue and, thus,
will mistakenly deactivate the parent's class causing issues like a wild
memory access when qfq has codel as a child:

[   36.339843][  T370] Oops: general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xfbd59c0000000024: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
[   36.340408][  T370] KASAN: maybe wild-memory-access in range [0xdead000000000120-0xdead000000000127]
[   36.340737][  T370] CPU: 2 UID: 0 PID: 370 Comm: tc Not tainted 7.1.0-rc5-00287-g66e13b626592 #87 PREEMPT(full)
[   36.341113][  T370] Hardware name: Bochs Bochs, BIOS Bochs 01/01/2011
[   36.341357][  T370] RIP: 0010:qfq_deactivate_agg (include/linux/list.h:1029 (discriminator 2) include/linux/list.h:1043 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1369 (discriminator 2) net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1395 (discriminator 2)) sch_qfq
[   36.342221][  T370] RSP: 0018:ffff8881100ef370 EFLAGS: 00010216
[   36.342422][  T370] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff8881058a9568 RCX: dffffc0000000000
[   36.342664][  T370] RDX: 1ffff11021064dc3 RSI: ffff888108326e00 RDI: dffffc0000000000
[   36.342905][  T370] RBP: ffff8881058a8280 R08: dead000000000122 R09: 1bd5a00000000024
[   36.343140][  T370] R10: fffffbfff2940329 R11: fffffbfff2940329 R12: 0000000000000000
[   36.343383][  T370] R13: dead000000000100 R14: ffff8881058a9580 R15: ffff8881058a9578
[   36.343631][  T370] FS:  00007fc04b0ca780(0000) GS:ffff888184fef000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
[   36.343911][  T370] CS:  0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
[   36.344116][  T370] CR2: 0000557c02c02000 CR3: 000000010e0ba000 CR4: 0000000000750ef0
[   36.344359][  T370] PKRU: 55555554
[   36.344481][  T370] Call Trace:
...
[   36.345054][  T370] qfq_reset_qdisc (net/sched/sch_qfq.c:357 net/sched/sch_qfq.c:1487) sch_qfq
[   36.345222][  T370]  qdisc_reset (net/sched/sch_generic.c:1057)
[   36.345503][  T370]  __qdisc_destroy (net/sched/sch_generic.c:1096)
[   36.345677][  T370]  qdisc_graft (net/sched/sch_api.c:1062 net/sched/sch_api.c:1053 net/sched/sch_api.c:1159)
[   36.346335][  T370]  tc_get_qdisc (net/sched/sch_api.c:1528 net/sched/sch_api.c:1556)

Fix this by only calling qdisc_tree_reduce_backlog in peek after the
qlen is restored.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-74267?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-74267?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-74267 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74267 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-74267 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-74267 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Linux, published on 15 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-74267 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74267/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74267/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-74267
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-74267
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-74267

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-74267/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
