Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-98299

critical Nessus Plugin ID 363246

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- tcp: do not let tcp_rmem be set below 4096 We can hit a division by zero crash in tcp_rcvbuf_grow() and tcp_rcv_space_adjust(): divide error: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP RIP: 0010:tcp_rcvbuf_grow+0x187/0x450 net/ipv4/tcp_input.c:939 ... grow = div_u64(((u64)rcvwin << 1) * (newval - oldval), oldval); The division uses oldval = tp->rcvq_space.space as divisor. When tp->rcvq_space.space is zero, this leads to a divide- by-zero exception. tp->rcvq_space.space is initialized in tcp_init_buffer_space(): tp->rcvq_space.space = min3(tp->rcv_ssthresh, tp->rcv_wnd, (u32)TCP_INIT_CWND * tp->advmss); If tcp_rmem[1] is configured to very small values (such as 1), sk->sk_rcvbuf is initialized to 1. Then tcp_full_space(sk), which computes (sk->sk_rcvbuf * scaling_ratio) >> 8, truncates to 0. This sets tp->window_clamp = 0, tp->rcv_ssthresh = 0, and tp->rcvq_space.space = 0. Later, when data arrives and DRS is invoked, tcp_rcvbuf_grow() divides by oldval == 0. Back in 2015, commit b1cb59cf2efe (net: sysctl_net_core: check SNDBUF and RCVBUF for min length) ensured that net.core.rmem_default and net.core.rmem_max cannot be set below SOCK_MIN_RCVBUF.
Similarly, SO_RCVBUF setsockopt enforces max_t(int, val * 2, SOCK_MIN_RCVBUF). However, net.ipv4.tcp_rmem still had .extra1 = SYSCTL_ONE, allowing arbitrarily small values. Because SOCK_MIN_RCVBUF depends on sizeof(struct sk_buff) and cacheline alignment, its value varies across architectures and configuration options. Using a fixed constant of 4096 ensures a predictable, architecture- independent lower bound that is safely above SOCK_MIN_RCVBUF everywhere and matches the documented 4K default. Fix this by setting tcp_rmem.extra1 to 4096 and updating the documentation. (CVE-2026-98299)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 363246

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_98299.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 10/6/2026

Updated: 10/6/2026

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.66

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-98299

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:linux

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 10/6/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-98299

Detections

Analytics