Memory leak in Linux kernel - CVE-2026-98321

Vulnerability identifier: #VU153698

CSH Severity: Low

CVSS v4: 4.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]

CVE-ID: CVE-2026-98321

CWE-ID: CWE-401

Exploitation vector: Local access

Exploit availability: No public exploit available

The vulnerability allows a local user to cause a memory leak.

The vulnerability exists due to failure to release allocated NAT hooks in nf_nat_register_fn() when nf_hook_entries_insert_raw() fails during NAT hook registration. A local user can trigger this error condition to cause a memory leak.

Linux kernel
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-aws (Ubuntu package)
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package)
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package)
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package)
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package)
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package)

Install security update from vendor's repository.

Linux kernel - update to 7.0 rc3
linux (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42
linux-aws (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.17
linux-gcp (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1016.18
linux-oracle (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1015.16
linux-ibm (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17
linux-hwe-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-42.42~24.04.1
linux-oem-7.0 (Ubuntu package) - update to 7.0.0-1017.17

• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/79084567cd082fb4482e1ea457580e7d6504dd99
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cbdd39ce42530a193c56beb206a3356cb6d01016
• https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df80342f4bfc023ad7d6703df5e27f583ff0cb8d

• Memory leak in Linux kernel netfilter
• Ubuntu update for linux-oem-7.0
• Ubuntu update for linux, linux-aws, linux-gcp and more