CVE-2026-98046

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) subsystem. The bpf_btf_find_by_name_kind() helper function was not properly marked as sleepable (capable of pausing execution while waiting for resources), allowing it to be executed in non-sleepable contexts such as timer callbacks. A local user with permissions to load BPF programs can exploit this issue to trigger a sleep operation during an atomic context. This can lead to kernel instability or a system crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS).

A low impact denial of service flaw was found in the Linux kernel's BPF subsystem. The bpf_btf_find_by_name_kind() BPF helper was not marked as sleepable even though it can sleep while allocating a new BTF object file descriptor, so the BPF verifier allowed it to be called from non-sleepable contexts such as BPF timer callbacks. In those contexts the file descriptor allocation can sleep in softirq/atomic context. A local user with the permissions required to load BPF programs could use a crafted BPF program to trigger a sleep operation in an atomic context, causing kernel instability or a system crash and resulting in a denial of service. Confidentiality and integrity are not impacted. This issue affects the kernel packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9, and 10 (including kernel-rt), Red Hat In-Vehicle OS, and OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 releases based on RHEL CoreOS 9. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 ELS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 and 8.6, and OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 (based on RHEL CoreOS 8) are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those streams. Because this flaw is rated low impact, exploitation requires local access with BPF program loading privileges, and the consequence is limited to availability, the fix has been deferred and will be addressed in future scheduled kernel updates; the residual risk is that a privileged local user could crash an affected system.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.

Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.