bpf: Fix incorrect pruning due to atomic fetch precision tracking
CVE-2026-43009 · published 1 May 2026
How serious is it
- Severity: high, CVSS score 7.8 out of 10.
- No exploit prediction (EPSS) score yet.
- Not on the CISA list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- No public exploit in Exploit-DB.
Is your app affected by CVE-2026-43009?
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Who is affected
- Linux Linux: 5ca419f2864a2c60940dcf4bbaeb69546200e36f to < 1aac6b271e0a80b91c2f6a8f75ab0c0b1fc8ffe8, 5ca419f2864a2c60940dcf4bbaeb69546200e36f to < 7c72e5f3741d1c5cc53439137162f0e09254e6e9, 5ca419f2864a2c60940dcf4bbaeb69546200e36f to < ea150ffa9fc9f78c5cf22e1f7b06b6d016b1017c, 5ca419f2864a2c60940dcf4bbaeb69546200e36f to < 7ffbe45b1d227e24659998a91cfd4c27af457e71
- Linux Linux: 5.12
How to check
- Find out whether you run the affected product and which version, then compare it with the versions above.
How to fix
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- Apply the vendor's update or mitigation from the references below. If there is none yet, limit exposure of the affected service until there is.
- If a vulnerable version was live, check your logs and rotate the secrets that server could read.
The advisory
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
bpf: Fix incorrect pruning due to atomic fetch precision tracking
When backtrack_insn encounters a BPF_STX instruction with BPF_ATOMIC
and BPF_FETCH, the src register (or r0 for BPF_CMPXCHG) also acts as
a destination, thus receiving the old value from the memory location.
The current backtracking logic does not account for this. It treats
atomic fetch operations the same as regular stores where the src
register is only an input. This leads the backtrack_insn to fail to
propagate precision to the stack location, which is then not marked
as precise!
Later, the verifier's path pruning can incorrectly consider two states
equivalent when they differ in terms of stack state. Meaning, two
branches can be treated as equivalent and thus get pruned when they
should not be seen as such.
Fix it as follows: Extend the BPF_LDX handling in backtrack_insn to
also cover atomic fetch operations via is_atomic_fetch_insn() helper.
When the fetch dst register is being tracked for precision, clear it,
and propagate precision over to the stack slot. For non-stack memory,
the precision walk stops at the atomic instruction, same as regular
BPF_LDX. This covers all fetch variants.
Before:
0: (b7) r1 = 8 ; R1=8
1: (7b) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = r1 ; R1=8 R10=fp0 fp-8=8
2: (b7) r2 = 0 ; R2=0
3: (db) r2 = atomic64_fetch_add((u64 *)(r10 -8), r2) ; R2=8 R10=fp0 fp-8=mmmmmmmm
4: (bf) r3 = r10 ; R3=fp0 R10=fp0
5: (0f) r3 += r2
mark_precise: frame0: last_idx 5 first_idx 0 subseq_idx -1
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r2 stack= before 4: (bf) r3 = r10
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r2 stack= before 3: (db) r2 = atomic64_fetch_add((u64 *)(r10 -8), r2)
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r2 stack= before 2: (b7) r2 = 0
6: R2=8 R3=fp8
6: (b7) r0 = 0 ; R0=0
7: (95) exit
After:
0: (b7) r1 = 8 ; R1=8
1: (7b) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = r1 ; R1=8 R10=fp0 fp-8=8
2: (b7) r2 = 0 ; R2=0
3: (db) r2 = atomic64_fetch_add((u64 *)(r10 -8), r2) ; R2=8 R10=fp0 fp-8=mmmmmmmm
4: (bf) r3 = r10 ; R3=fp0 R10=fp0
5: (0f) r3 += r2
mark_precise: frame0: last_idx 5 first_idx 0 subseq_idx -1
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r2 stack= before 4: (bf) r3 = r10
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r2 stack= before 3: (db) r2 = atomic64_fetch_add((u64 *)(r10 -8), r2)
mark_precise: frame0: regs= stack=-8 before 2: (b7) r2 = 0
mark_precise: frame0: regs= stack=-8 before 1: (7b) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = r1
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r1 stack= before 0: (b7) r1 = 8
6: R2=8 R3=fp8
6: (b7) r0 = 0 ; R0=0
7: (95) exit
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References
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/1aac6b271e0a80b91c2f6a8f75ab0c0b1fc8ffe8
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/7c72e5f3741d1c5cc53439137162f0e09254e6e9
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/ea150ffa9fc9f78c5cf22e1f7b06b6d016b1017c
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/7ffbe45b1d227e24659998a91cfd4c27af457e71
- git.kernel.org/stable/c/179ee84a89114b854ac2dd1d293633a7f6c8dac1
Merged from CVE List. Last updated 25 Oct 2026. All vulnerabilities · RSS · JSON