CVE-2026-99283netfilter: conntrack: tcp: use UNACK timeout for non-closing RST packets
- —Not scoredno CVSS score yet
- 0.21%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 89% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: conntrack: tcp: use UNACK timeout for non-closing RST packets Commit be0502a3f2e9 ("netfilter: conntrack: tcp: only close if RST matches exact sequence") keeps an established conntrack entry in ESTABLISHED when an in-window RST does not match the expected sequence number exactly, so the endpoint can validate the RST with a challenge ACK. The timeout selection nevertheless uses the CLOSE timeout for every RST packet. The bug is that timeout selection is based on the packet type, not on the state transition result: even when RST validation keeps new_state in ESTABLISHED, the timeout is still forced to TCP_CONNTRACK_CLOSE. Linux TCP independently rate limits challenge ACKs per socket. A second non-exact RST can therefore arrive after the first challenge ACK has restored the timeout but before the rate limit expires. The second RST lowers the timeout to 10 seconds again while the endpoint suppresses the second challenge ACK, allowing the conntrack entry to expire while both TCP endpoints remain established. Using the ESTABLISHED timeout for such RSTs would avoid this short expiration window, but it could also retain stale entries for the five-day default because conntrack cannot reliably match the endpoint's exact TCP state. Use the UNACK timeout for RST packets that leave the conntrack entry in TCP_CONNTRACK_ESTABLISHED. Exact-match RSTs and accepted RST packet trains still fall through to timeouts[new_state], which preserves the CLOSE timeout when conntrack accepts the RST as closing the flow. This avoids the aggressive 10-second expiration window for non-exact RSTs while preserving the short timeout for RSTs that conntrack accepts as closing the flow.
Timeline
ID reserved
By Linux
- 43 days later
· 43 days later
Published
- 3 days later
· 3 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
No CVSS score yet: neither the CNA, CISA nor NVD has scored this CVE. NVD status: Received.
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.21% · top 89% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Not scored.
Affected products
- affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < 4d39a039d0b7737f8475c2431f18572b3b186a3b
- affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < 0c6d33329960b2d884a399196c8403643d8a9de6
- affected 1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 – < bf80e6802273a900311b44e47c9b1a59c6d2473c
- affected < 6.12.117
- affected < 6.18.61
- unaffected 6.12.117 – ≤ 6.12.*
- unaffected 6.18.61 – ≤ 6.18.*
- unaffected 7.3 – ≤ *
References
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-119327 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
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[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-99283)Record last updated .