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Vulnerability · Published Mar 20, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2026-23278netfilter: nf_tables: always walk all pending catchall elements

High 7.8

In plain English

A high-severity use-after-free in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.2% (higher than 13% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.8High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.2%top 86.8% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_tables: always walk all pending catchall elements During transaction processing we might have more than one catchall element: 1 live catchall element and 1 pending element that is coming as part of the new batch. If the map holding the catchall elements is also going away, its required to toggle all catchall elements and not just the first viable candidate. Otherwise, we get: WARNING: ./include/net/netfilter/nf_tables.h:1281 at nft_data_release+0xb7/0xe0 [nf_tables], CPU#2: nft/1404 RIP: 0010:nft_data_release+0xb7/0xe0 [nf_tables] [..] __nft_set_elem_destroy+0x106/0x380 [nf_tables] nf_tables_abort_release+0x348/0x8d0 [nf_tables] nf_tables_abort+0xcf2/0x3ac0 [nf_tables] nfnetlink_rcv_batch+0x9c9/0x20e0 [..]

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.1.177-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23278
Debian:13linux6.12.85-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23278
Debian:14linux6.19.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-185.195USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux5.15.0-185.195UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux6.8.0-134.134USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux6.8.0-134.134UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-40.40USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux6.17.0-40.40UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1111.118UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws5.15.0-1111.118USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws6.8.0-1060.63UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws6.8.0-1060.63USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1019.19UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-aws6.17.0-1019.19USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.176.17.0-1019.19~24.04.1USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.176.17.0-1019.19~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.86.8.0-1060.63~22.04.1USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.86.8.0-1060.63~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1116.125UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure5.15.0-1116.125USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure6.8.0-1063.71UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azureno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.176.17.0-1021.21~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.86.8.0-1063.71~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde5.15.0-1116.125UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde6.8.0-1062.69UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-azure-fdeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.86.8.0-1062.69~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidiano fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-azure-nvidia-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1111.121UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp5.15.0-1111.121USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp6.8.0-1063.69USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp6.8.0-1063.69UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1020.22USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-gcp6.17.0-1020.22UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.176.17.0-1020.22~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.176.17.0-1020.22~24.04.1USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.86.8.0-1063.69~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.86.8.0-1063.69~22.04.1USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1107.113UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gke5.15.0-1107.113USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gke6.8.0-1058.64USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gke6.8.0-1058.64UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1094.102UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gkeop5.15.0-1094.102USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gkeop6.8.0-1045.48USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-gkeop6.8.0-1045.48UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.176.17.0-40.40~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.176.17.0-40.40~24.04.1USN-8545-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.86.8.0-136.136~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1105.109USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm5.15.0-1105.109UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-ibm6.8.0-1060.61USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-ibm6.8.0-1060.61UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm-6.86.8.0-1060.61~22.04.1USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-ibm-6.86.8.0-1060.61~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1106.112UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iotg5.15.0-1106.112USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1103.108UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-kvm5.15.0-1103.108USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-183.193USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency5.15.0-183.193UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency6.8.0-134.134.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency6.8.0-134.134.1USN-8497-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.86.8.0-134.134.1~22.04.1USN-8497-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.86.8.0-134.134.1~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1106.107USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia5.15.0-1106.107UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia6.8.0-1058.61UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia6.8.0-1058.61USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.176.17.0-1026.26USN-8508-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.176.17.0-1026.26UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.86.8.0-1058.61~22.04.1USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.86.8.0-1058.61~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-lowlatency6.8.0-1058.61.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-lowlatency6.8.0-1058.61.1USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1063.63UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra5.15.0-1063.63USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra6.8.0-1029.30UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra6.8.0-1029.30USN-8498-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1052.52UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-tegra-igx5.15.0-1052.52USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.11no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1028.28UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.176.17.0-1028.28USN-8491-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.8no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1108.114UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle5.15.0-1108.114USN-8493-1
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle6.8.0-1057.58UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle6.8.0-1057.58USN-8492-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1018.18USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-oracle6.17.0-1018.18UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.176.17.0-1018.18~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.176.17.0-1018.18~24.04.1USN-8490-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.86.8.0-1057.58~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.86.8.0-1057.58~22.04.1USN-8492-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1105.108USN-8527-1
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-raspi5.15.0-1105.108UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi6.8.0-1060.64USN-8492-4
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi6.8.0-1060.64UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1021.21USN-8546-1
Ubuntu:25.10linux-raspi6.17.0-1021.21UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1017.19UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-realtime6.17.0-1017.19USN-8490-2
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:25.10linux-riscv6.17.0-40.40.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.14no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.176.17.0-38.38.1~24.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.86.8.0-134.134~22.04.1UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-xilinx6.8.0-1032.33UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1074.78UBUNTU-CVE-2026-23278
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-xilinx-zynqmp5.15.0-1074.78USN-8528-1

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux 25aa2ad37c2162be1c0bc4fe6397f7e4c13f00f8 – before ae8f3cedc5f5653a5bed45c5ed016fe156e2af55d60be2da67d172aecf866302c91ea11533eca4d9 – before c4d4e86fda707d89eaba80e343321737375f8582628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 – before 4830fb44d12f586f3f544609e086933649a9175a628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 – before eb0948fa13298212c5f8b30ee48efdae4389ab09628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 – before de47a88c6b807910f05703fb6605f7efdaa11417628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 – before 77c26b5056d693ffe5e9f040e946251cdb55ae55628bd3e49cba1c066228e23d71a852c23e26da73 – before 7cb9a23d7ae40a702577d3d8bacb7026f04ac2a9bc9f791d2593f17e39f87c6e2b3a36549a3705b1
Linux Linux 6.4

Weakness: CWE-416 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

References