CVE-2026-98289

af_unix: Unify scc_index when finalising SCC in __unix_walk_scc().

CVE-2026-98289 is fixed in 20 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98289, released October 6, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Urgent.

Urgent
CVSS
9.8
Critical
Exploitation
None reported
No vendor assessment
CISA KEV
Not listed
Not in the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
EPSS
0.0017
5th percentile

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: af_unix: Unify scc_index when finalising SCC in __unix_walk_scc(). Commit bfdb01283ee8 ("af_unix: Assign a unique index to SCC.") changed Tarjan's algorithm to update lowlink with lowlink, which is called lowpoint (unix_vertex.scc_index). unix_vertex_dead() assumes all vertices in an SCC share the same lowpoint, but this is not always true if an SCC has two or more back edges, depending on the order of DFS. For example, the graph below has two back edges from B to A and from C to B. A --> B --> C ^ | ^ | `----' `----' If DFS walks through A -> B -> C -> B (-> C -> B) -> A (-> B -> A), each index and scc_index will be updated as follows. A --> B --> C C = (3, 3) (index, scc_index) B = (2, 2) A = (1, 1) A ... B ... C C = (3, 2)<-. ^ | B = (2, 2) -' `----' A = (1, 1) A ... B ... C C = (3, 2) ^ | . . B = (2, 1)<-. `----' .... A = (1, 1) -' Then, unix_vertex_dead() thinks that B is passed to another SCC with scc_index 2, and the SCC is not garbage-collected. This does not happen if DFS walks in a different order below or starts from B. 1 3 A --> B --> C ^ | ^ | `----' `----' 2 4 Let's unify scc_index across the SCC when finalising it. Note that updating v->index was previously done in unix_scc_dead(), when called from __unix_walk_scc(), just to save one loop. Since __unix_walk_scc() now iterates over the SCC anyway, the update is moved back to __unix_walk_scc() and 'fast' argument is dropped.

Where it's fixed

ProductFixed inFixReleased
Linux
bpftool6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
bpftool6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel-livepatch-6.18.54-121.166 · amzn 2023 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-headers · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-modules-extra · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-modules-extra-common · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
kernel6.18-tools-devel · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
linux · Debian 14 7.2.8-1 DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98289 Oct 6, 2026
microvm-kernel6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.18 · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026
python3-perf6.18-debuginfo · amzn 2023 1:6.18.54-121.166.amzn2023 ALAS2023-2026-3192 Nov 7, 2026

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