CVE-2026-99025

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: openvswitch: fix soft lockup in the netlink flow dump A production compute node carrying a few thousand datapath flows hit a soft lockup inside a single netlink flow dump and panicked. ovs_flow_cmd_dump() calls ovs_flow_stats_get() for every flow it emits, and that releases stats->lock with spin_unlock_bh() once per CPU that has touched the flow. Every release is a local_bh_enable(), and each one runs the pending softirq backlog in the dumping thread's own context. The skb bounds the flows one callback emits, but not the softirq work it absorbs. On a CPU that carries the box's packet load the backlog refills as fast as it drains, so the dumping thread becomes that CPU's softirq engine. It never sleeps and it has no reschedule point, so under voluntary preemption nothing can take the CPU away from it: neither the ksoftirqd the kernel woke to take the work over, nor the stopper thread the softlockup detector dispatches to refresh its timestamp. Hold BH off across the whole callback instead, the way ctnetlink_dump_table() does, so the nested spin_unlock_bh() stop draining softirqs. The loop already runs under rcu_read_lock() and cannot sleep. What it gives up is preemption under CONFIG_PREEMPT, since a BH-off region is not preemptible outside PREEMPT_RT. The region stays short: the skb caps the flows one callback emits, and empty buckets cost no skb space but are each visited once per dump, as the cursor only moves forward. The table grows on insert and shrinks only on flush, so the walk is bounded by the largest flow count the datapath has held. The softirq backlog the callback used to absorb has no bound at all.

At a glance

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.

Timeline

1. 2026-10-23 13:17 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-10-30 13:21 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: not scored yet.
• Fix: none linked yet, which raises it.

Details

Published

2026-10-23 13:17 UTC

Last modified

2026-10-30 13:21 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Record status

Received

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