# CVE-2026-98588: bpf, sockmap: Reject max_entries > INT_MAX in sock_map_alloc

> An integer overflow in Linux kernel sockmap allocation allows local attackers to trigger out-of-bounds writes, causing crashes or potential code execution.

- **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:** 18 Oct 2026
- **Updated:** 19 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** AZL-108951, BELL-CVE-2026-98588, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98588, GHSA-v3gv-6qr6-4mh5, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98588

## What is CVE-2026-98588?

CVE-2026-98588 is a 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:

bpf, sockmap: Reject max_entries > INT_MAX in sock_map_alloc

sock_map_alloc() only rejects max_entries == 0 and otherwise allows any
u32 value.  sock_map_free() then walks the sks[] array with a signed int
iterator:

	int i;
	for (i = 0; i < stab->map.max_entries; i++)
		struct sock **psk = &stab->sks[i];

When a SOCKMAP is created with max_entries = 0xffffffff (UINT_MAX), the
allocation of 32 GiB can succeed on large-memory hosts.  During free the
counter reaches 0x80000000, wraps to INT_MIN, is sign-extended by movslq
and turned into a ~16 GiB negative offset from stab->sks, pointing far
below the allocation.

The faulting access is an xchg() write in sock_map_free().  Without
KASAN, the same out-of-bounds write can fault on an unmapped vmalloc page
or corrupt an unrelated allocation if that vmalloc address is populated.
On a KASAN kernel with CONFIG_KASAN_VMALLOC=y, the shadow check for that
address hits an unmapped shadow page and oopses first:

  BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: fffff521b59c5a00
  RIP: 0010:kasan_check_range+0x107/0x190
  Call Trace:
   sock_map_free+0x93/0x190
   map_create+0x68d/0xb30
   __sys_bpf+0x21e/0x2e70

Vmcore confirmed stab->map.max_entries == 0xffffffff, stab->sks ==
0xffffc911ace2d000, and the faulting address sks + (s64)INT_MIN * 8
exactly at 0xffffc90dace2d000.  The same buggy path is reached on the
normal close()/bpf_map_free_deferred() path whenever such a map is
destroyed.

sock_map_alloc() used to bound its allocation size through
bpf_map_charge_init(), but the bound was dropped when rlimit-based memory
accounting was removed.  Reject max_entries > INT_MAX at creation time so
the signed iterator in sock_map_free() never sees a value that would
overflow.

Triggered by syzkaller and reproduced on both a 6.6-based KASAN kernel
and the upstream v7.3-rc2 kernel.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98588?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98588?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98588 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98588 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98588 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98588 is a 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98588 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-2026-98588/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98588/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98588
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98588
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98588

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98588/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.