Integer Underflow Affecting kernel-rt-debug-kvm package, versions *


Severity

Recommended
0.0
high
0
10

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.21% (11th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-RHEL10-KERNELRTDEBUGKVM-21269972
  • published20 Oct 2026
  • disclosed18 Oct 2026

Introduced: 18 Oct 2026

NewCVE-2026-98550  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-191  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

There is no fixed version for RHEL:10 kernel-rt-debug-kvm.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-rt-debug-kvm package and not the kernel-rt-debug-kvm package as distributed by RHEL. See How to fix? for RHEL:10 relevant fixed versions and status.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

tipc: reject invalid and unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG to prevent bc_ackers underflow

Commit 48a5fe38772b ("tipc: fix bc_ackers underflow on duplicate GRP_ACK_MSG") rejected duplicate/stale ACKs in tipc_group_proto_rcv() by returning early when less_eq(acked, m->bc_acked).

However, that check remains incomplete in two ways:

  1. When grp->bc_ackers is zero (e.g. on a quiet group, when replicast ACKs were not requested, or after all expected members have already acknowledged), an unexpected GRP_ACK_MSG with acked > m->bc_acked passes less_eq() and unconditionally decrements grp->bc_ackers. Because bc_ackers is a u16, this wraps to 65535, causing tipc_group_bc_cong() to permanently report congestion and blocking all future group broadcasts on the socket.

  2. During an active broadcast round (grp->bc_ackers > 0), the sender transmits packet S and advances grp->bc_snd_nxt to S + 1. Receivers increment their expected counter to S + 1 upon consuming packet S, so the only valid ACK value for the current round is strictly acked == grp->bc_snd_nxt.

    However, tipc_group_update_bc_members() initializes each member's m->bc_acked to prev = grp->bc_snd_nxt - 1 (S - 1 before increment). This leaves a 2-sequence gap (S - 1 to S + 1) in sequence space. An incoming ACK is therefore neither rejected as duplicate nor prevented from decrementing grp->bc_ackers if an unexpected or stale value (such as S) is received. A member sending acked = S followed by acked = S + 1 could decrement grp->bc_ackers twice in the same round, prematurely clearing bc_ackers or underflowing it.

Fix this by:

  • Dropping GRP_ACK_MSG immediately if grp->bc_ackers is zero.
  • Requiring acked == grp->bc_snd_nxt and rejecting duplicates where m->bc_acked == acked. Because replicast broadcast rounds are strictly sequential, only grp->bc_snd_nxt can be acknowledged, and each member can acknowledge at most once per round.

Note that a related pre-existing issue in tipc_group_delete_member() (where grp->bc_ackers decrementing to zero upon member departure does not restore *grp->open or trigger a socket wakeup) will be addressed in a separate patch.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1