# CVE-2026-98811: net/sched: cls_api: reclaim an empty proto on the error path CVE-2026-98811 is fixed in 39 products on 1 platform, first by DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98811, released October 19, 2026. It is not reported as exploited. Patch Radar priority: Routine. - Web page: https://patchblox.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-98811 - Priority: Routine - CVSS: 1.9 (Low) - EPSS: 0.0018 - CISA KEV: not listed - Exploited (vendor report): no - Publicly disclosed: no - Published: Oct 18, 2026 - Vendor advisory: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-98811 ## Description In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net/sched: cls_api: reclaim an empty proto on the error path Two racing tc filter add requests on the same chain/prio of an unlocked classifier both run change() on the shared proto and both can fail: the winner's tcf_chain_tp_delete_empty() attempt gives up because the loser's handle is still in the idr, and the loser's error path drops only its own reference without a second reclamation attempt. The empty proto stays linked in the chain, holding the chain reference, a block reference and the classifier module reference until the chain or block is torn down. Reclaim the proto on the error path of any failed request that holds a proto reference. The reclamation is emptiness-gated: tcf_chain_tp_delete_empty() unlinks the proto only when delete_empty() admits it is empty, so a live shared proto is never unlinked. A proto the request created is reclaimed unconditionally - it is the only owner, so marking it for deletion is safe even without a delete_empty callback. Classifiers without one (the check marks the proto unconditionally) are rtnl-serialized, so the raced window this guard closes cannot arise for them. This is a follow-up to commit d4e359b3608a ("net/sched: cls_api: fix teardown of an adopted proto on insert-race loss"), which stopped the loser of the insert race from unlinking the winner's live proto but left the empty-proto residual in place. Conditions to recreate: - CONFIG_NET_CLS_FLOWER=y; veth pair - tc qdisc add dev veth0 ingress - two concurrent `tc filter add dev veth0 ingress protocol ip pref 1 flower skip_sw ... action drop` (both fail in fl_hw_replace_filter after publishing their handle in the idr); repeat in a loop - an empty flower tp stays linked after both requests fail; visible as a bare `filter protocol ip pref 1 flower chain 0` header in `tc filter show` with no filter entries - CAP_NET_ADMIN (namespace-local via unshare -Urn suffices) ## Where it's fixed | Platform | Product | Fixed in | Fix | Released | |---|---|---|---|---| | Linux | bpftool6.12 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | bpftool6.12-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | bpftool6.18 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | bpftool6.18-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-livepatch-6.12.113-138.209 amzn 2023 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel-livepatch-6.18.56-125.164 amzn 2023 | 1:1.0-0.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-aarch64 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-debuginfo-common-x86_64 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-devel amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-headers amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-modules-extra amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-modules-extra-common amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-tools amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-tools-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.12-tools-devel amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-aarch64 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-debuginfo-common-x86_64 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-devel amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-headers amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-modules-extra amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-modules-extra-common amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-tools amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-tools-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | kernel6.18-tools-devel amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | linux Debian 13.5 (trixie) | 6.12.113-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98811](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98811.md) | Oct 19, 2026 | | Linux | linux Debian 14 | 7.2.10-1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98811](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98811.md) | Oct 19, 2026 | | Linux | linux-6.12 Debian 12.15 (bookworm) | 6.12.113-1~deb12u1 | [DEBIAN-CVE-2026-98811](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/debian-cve-2026-98811.md) | Oct 19, 2026 | | Linux | microvm-kernel6.18 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | perf6.12 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | perf6.12-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | perf6.18 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | perf6.18-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | python3-perf6.12 amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | python3-perf6.12-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.12.113-138.209.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3335](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3335.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | python3-perf6.18 amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | | Linux | python3-perf6.18-debuginfo amzn 2023 | 1:6.18.56-125.164.amzn2023 | [ALAS2023-2026-3251](https://patchblox.com/security/data/fix/linux/alas2023-2026-3251.md) | Nov 7, 2026 | --- Data as of 2026-11-09T19:38:12Z UTC. 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