# CVE-2026-98613: bpf: Bound ownership depth through local kptrs and graph roots

> A local attacker can cause a kernel stack exhaustion and denial of service by creating deep object chains in BPF programs.

- **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:** BELL-CVE-2026-98613, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98613, GHSA-32jf-h832-m29p, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-98613

## What is CVE-2026-98613?

CVE-2026-98613 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:

bpf: Bound ownership depth through local kptrs and graph roots

Program-allocated objects can own other local objects through referenced
kptrs. bpf_obj_free_fields() follows those pointers through
__bpf_obj_drop_impl() synchronously, before the object storage is freed
through RCU. A self-referential local kptr type therefore permits arbitrarily
deep object chains, and dropping the head can exhaust the kernel stack.
Long acyclic type chains have the same problem.

btf_check_and_fixup_fields() still assumes referenced kptrs only point to
kernel types and checks ownership through list and rbtree roots only. Its
existing rule is sufficient for graph-only cycles: the target of each graph
edge must contain a node, so every type in a cycle has both a root and a
node. The rule rejects such a type owning another root, breaking every
cycle. It also limits graph-only chains to three types, or two if the first
type contains a node, and conservatively rejects longer acyclic chains.
The missing local-kptr edges, rather than a missed graph-only cycle, are the
bug introduced by support for bpf_kptr_xchg() into local kptrs.

Replace that restriction with one bounded ownership walk covering graph
roots and local referenced kptrs. Run it after all BTF records have been
fixed up, reject cycles and paths deeper than eight record-bearing types,
and cache each type's suffix depth while checking it against the remaining
budget. This also permits the longer acyclic graph-only layouts rejected
by the old rule; update their existing BTF tests accordingly.

Keep the bound independent of MAX_CALL_FRAMES because recursive destruction
can run below a BPF call chain. A plain local pointee without special-field
metadata adds only a final non-recursing drop. Non-owning kptrs and
kernel-BTF kptrs do not recurse through local records and remain outside the
walk. Include local percpu-kptr edges too, although allocation of percpu
objects with special fields is currently forbidden, so that relaxing that
restriction cannot bypass the ownership bound.

btf_check_and_fixup_fields() continues to initialize graph_root.value_rec,
including for separately allocated map records. The ownership relationships
belong to immutable program BTF and only need validation at BTF load time.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-98613?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-98613?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2026-98613 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98613 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-98613 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-98613 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-98613 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-2026-98613/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98613/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-98613
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98613
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98613

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-98613/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.