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Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-98969

critical Nessus Plugin ID 371546

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.

 - net/sched: em_text: reject unterminated algo before autoload This is a follow-up to commit 9c572a83037a (net/sched: fix potential stack infoleak in em_text_dump()), which zero-initialised the dump-side struct. Sashiko pointed at a pre-existing bug that exposed the change-side input-validation gap open.
 em_text_change() casts the raw netlink attribute payload to struct tcf_em_text and passes conf->algo, a 16-byte array with no enforced NUL terminator, to textsearch_prepare(). On the TS_AUTOLOAD retry textsearch_prepare() calls request_module(ts_%s, algo); vsnprintf() walks %s until it finds a NUL, so an algo[] with no NUL reads past the array into the adjacent struct fields and payload and feeds those bytes to the usermode helper command line. This is an out-of-bounds read and a kernel memory disclosure. Reject the attribute when no NUL exists within TC_EM_TEXT_ALGOSIZ bytes, matching the check xt_string has had since 3ab720881b6e. Conditions to recreate the bug: - CAP_NET_ADMIN on the target netns (namespace-local via unshare -Urn is enough) - install clsact on an interface, then add a basic filter with one text ematch whose algo[] is 16 bytes with no NUL (e.g. A*16) and pattern_len at least 1 - the add fails with -ENOENT and the kernel invokes modprobe with a module name made of ts_ plus the 16 bytes and the adjacent payload (CVE-2026-98969)

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

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-98969

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 371546

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_98969.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 10/23/2026

Updated: 10/23/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

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-2026-98969

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, 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: 10/23/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-98969