CVE-2026-98488 net: atl1e: fix soft lockup on out-of-range hw_next_to_clean read
A flaw in the atl1e network driver causes a soft lockup when hardware reports an out-of-range value, leading to denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-98488?
CVE-2026-98488 is a denial of service vulnerability in Linux, published on 18 Oct 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: atl1e: fix soft lockup on out-of-range hw_next_to_clean read
Same issue as atl1c (see the first commit in this series, "net: atl1c: fix soft lockup on out-of-range tpd_cons read"): the hardware can report an out-of-range hw_next_to_clean (seen as 0xffff) while the PCIe link/MAC is resetting. An out-of-range value can never be reached and the loop below would spin forever. Treat it as "nothing new to clean" instead.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98488?
How do I fix CVE-2026-98488?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-98488 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98488 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-108692, BELL-CVE-2026-98488, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98488, GHSA-5jr3-mhw7-v4fq, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98488.