CVE-2026-45860
HighIn the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_conncount: increase the connection clean up limit to 64 After the optimization to only perform one GC per jiffy, a new problem was introduced. If more than 8 new connections are tracked per jiffy the list won't be cleaned up fast enough possibly reaching the limit wrongly. In order to prevent this issue, only skip the GC if it was already triggered during the same jiffy and the increment is lower than the clean up limit. In addition, increase the clean up limit to 64 connections to avoid triggering GC too often and do more effective GCs. This has been tested using a HTTP server and several performance tools while having nft_connlimit/xt_connlimit or OVS limit configured. Output of slowhttptest + OVS limit at 52000 connections: slow HTTP test status on 340th second: initializing: 0 pending: 432 connected: 51998 error: 0 closed: 0 service available: YES
CVSS 3.1 score
7.5
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
5.10.248,
5.15.198,
5.19
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.252,
5.15.202,
6.1.165,
6.6.128,
6.12.75,
6.18.14,
6.19.4,
7.0
and their respective stable series.
References
The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-45860 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.
-
PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0792ad077d776c2dcf20f0484e2461ded1b77a24
-
PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0af0812baf2d363176c9b76fc07e33f13aede8db
-
PatchKernel patch commithttps://git.kernel.org/stable/c/13eede458fdf231f1bf96a398feea4ad1553f14c
Frequently asked questions
-
What is CVE-2026-45860?
CVE-2026-45860 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.10.248 onward and has been patched in 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165 and others. CVE-2026-45860 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
-
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-45860?
CVE-2026-45860 has a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. -
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-45860?
Yes — CVE-2026-45860 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.252, 5.15.202, 6.1.165 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.10.248 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
-
Is CVE-2026-45860 actively exploited?
No — CVE-2026-45860 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.