CVE-2026-43025 HIGH

CVE-2026-43025: netfilter: ctnetlink: ignore explicit helper on new expectations

Vendor Linux
Product Linux
Published May 1, 2026
Last update May 11, 2026

CVSS base score

7.3/10
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity Low
Privileges required Low
User interaction None
Confidentiality High
Integrity Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: ctnetlink: ignore explicit helper on new expectations Use the existing master conntrack helper, anything else is not really supported and it just makes validation more complicated, so just ignore what helper userspace suggests for this expectation. This was uncovered when validating CTA_EXPECT_CLASS via different helper provided by userspace than the existing master conntrack helper: BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in nf_ct_expect_related_report+0x2479/0x27c0 Read of size 4 at addr ffff8880043fe408 by task poc/102 Call Trace: nf_ct_expect_related_report+0x2479/0x27c0 ctnetlink_create_expect+0x22b/0x3b0 ctnetlink_new_expect+0x4bd/0x5c0 nfnetlink_rcv_msg+0x67a/0x950 netlink_rcv_skb+0x120/0x350 Allowing to read kernel memory bytes off the expectation boundary. CTA_EXPECT_HELP_NAME is still used to offer the helper name to userspace via netlink dump.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

May 1, 2026 CVE published
May 11, 2026 Record updated