# CVE-2026-97958: net/sched: cls_api: Don't replay RTM_GETCHAIN in tc_ctl_chain().

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service in the Linux kernel by sending repeated netlink requests that trigger a CPU hog and hung task.

- **Severity:** Not scored
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 25 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-104682, BELL-CVE-2026-97958, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-97958, GHSA-wrg6-48wc-j3w4, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-97958

## What is CVE-2026-97958?

CVE-2026-97958 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 Sep 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/sched: cls_api: Don't replay RTM_GETCHAIN in tc_ctl_chain().

If a netlink socket sends RTM_GETCHAIN requests repeatedly
without recv()ing the responses, tc_ctl_chain() hogs CPU and
triggers Hung Task splat. [0]

As caught in the stack trace, netlink_attachskb() could confuse
tc_ctl_chain() by returning -EAGAIN when the userspace netlink
socket's receive buffer is full.

The replay: label exists since commit 32a4f5ecd738 ("net: sched:
introduce chain object to uapi") but was not used initially.

Since commit 9f407f1768d3 ("net: sched: introduce chain templates"),
the label is needed for RTM_NEWCHAIN because tcf_proto_lookup_ops()
may release RTNL to call request_module().

However, the replay logic is unnecessary for RTM_GETCHAIN.

Let's apply the replay logic only for RTM_NEWCHAIN.

[0]:
INFO: task repro:1018 is blocked on a mutex likely owned by task repro:1022.
task:repro           state:R  running task     stack:14096 pid:1022  tgid:1014  ppid:961    task_flags:0x400040 flags:0x00080000
Call Trace:
 <TASK>
 ? clockevents_program_event (kernel/time/clockevents.c:372)
 ? pskb_expand_head (net/core/skbuff.c:615)
 ? skb_release_data (net/core/skbuff.c:1122)
 ? netlink_attachskb (./include/linux/skbuff.h:1323 ./include/linux/skbuff.h:1332 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1232)
 ? __netlink_lookup (./include/linux/rcupdate.h:882 ./include/linux/rhashtable.h:711 net/netlink/af_netlink.c:499)
 ? tc_chain_notify (net/sched/cls_api.c:3045)
 ? tc_chain_notify (./include/linux/skbuff.h:1384 net/sched/cls_api.c:3041)
 ? netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1335)
 ? rtnl_unicast (./include/net/netlink.h:1198 net/core/rtnetlink.c:985)
 ? tc_ctl_chain (net/sched/cls_api.c:3242)
 ? rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:7146)
 ? netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1354)
 ? __pfx_rtnetlink_rcv_msg (net/core/rtnetlink.c:7177)
 ? netlink_rcv_skb (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:2556)
 ? netlink_unicast (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1319)
 ? netlink_sendmsg (net/netlink/af_netlink.c:1900)
 ? __sock_sendmsg (net/socket.c:800)
 ? __sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2281)
 ? __x64_sys_sendto (net/socket.c:2288 net/socket.c:2284 net/socket.c:2284)
 ? do_syscall_64 (arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:61 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:84)
 ? entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe (arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S:121)
 </TASK>

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-97958?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-97958?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-97958 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97958 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-97958 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-97958 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 25 Sep 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-97958 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-2026-97958/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97958/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-97958
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-97958
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-97958

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-97958/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.