[CVE-2026-99046][LOW] gve: fix XSK buffer leak on error descriptor

[AL-KERNEL <alkernel@kernelcve.org>]

CVE: CVE-2026-99046
Priority: LOW
AL-KERNEL base severity: LOW
KPANIC flag: NO
Patch: gve: fix XSK buffer leak on error descriptor
Commit: 06656aaa7e43ae62b673c2244d27099b8b94a70d
Upstream patch: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=06656aaa7e43ae62b673c2244d27099b8b94a70d
Original CVE announcement: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-99046
Analysis date: Mon, 26 Oct 2026 22:27:22 -0400
ActionableScore: 1
ActionableScore lower bound: unknown
Actionable bucket: Ordinary Moderate
Manual review required: NO

Summary:
A GVE AF_XDP zero-copy RX error leaks its attached XSK buffer, potentially exhausting the affected buffer pool without evidence of memory corruption or host-wide impact.

======================================================================
ABOUT THIS REPORT
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-99046 is available here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-99046

The original announcement does not normally provide a security severity
estimate, CVSS assessment, or enough information to determine whether the
reported kernel bug represents a practically relevant security issue.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin. It combines
an autonomous classifier with LLM-assisted technical analysis and a
separate ActionableScore mechanism.

The purpose of this report is to prioritize Linux kernel CVEs before
manual review, identify cases that require prompt investigation, and
support automatic closure of issues that are unlikely to have meaningful
security impact.

Published priority for this report: LOW
Manual review required: NO

A detailed explanation of the methodology and priority rules is included
at the end of this message.

======================================================================
AL-KERNEL CLASSIFICATION RESULT
======================================================================

CVE-2026-99046	LOW	https://www.kernelcve.org/list/?q=CVE-2026-99046 CHECK WITH IMPACT FROM ORIG NN MODERATE | AEGIS IMPACT MODERATE AEGIS_AS=1 LEGACY=LOW RESULT=DIFF (final Legacy and Aegis differ; FINAL: LOW, Aegis: MODERATE)	Maybe valid. Check manually. Hints by AL-KERNEL: The best (paranoid) CVSS is 'AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';*CWE-772;CWE-404;Other CVSS 'AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L';BEST CVSS score: '3.1';DESCR 'An RX completion with rx_error in the gve DQO AF_XDP zero copy path leaves the attached XSK buffer unreleased, so repeated occurrences can consume the finite XSK buffer pool and starve receive processing for the affected queue or interface. The demonstrated primitive is resource retention only. There is no evidence of OOB access, UAF, information disclosure, memory corruption, or host wide resource exhaustion. For the CVSS the PR:N worst case applies only if an untrusted adjacent network peer can reliably force repeated hardware rx_error descriptors, which the patch does not establish. Automated impact decision path. The original SimpleNet classifier selected MODERATE_KPANIC. The primary LLM estimated paranoid CVSS 3.1 and the production ActionableScore returned 1 with recommendation Ordinary Moderate. The production rules then evaluated CVSS thresholds and ActionableScore thresholds. Recorded rule transitions were CVSS and initial triage stage MODERATE_KPANIC to MODERATE because the CVSS score, vector or bug class threshold rule was applied. ActionableScore thresholds stage MODERATE to LOW because the ActionableScore threshold rule was applied. final reconciliation stage LOW to LOW because KP specialist did not establish a qualifying panic and the cross model evidence reconciliation rule was applied. The legacy KP specialist has no review artifact for this run. The legacy FD or DH downgrade specialist has no review artifact for this run. Exact triggered rule markers were DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS and DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 and KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED and V64_AEGIS_UNSUPPORTED_PROMOTION_BLOCKED. The independent weaker Aegis shadow evaluated CVSS 3.1 and ActionableScore 1 with primitive class CLASS_C and manual review REQUIRED. Its independently reconciled impact was MODERATE. The models disagreed but the aggregation rules retained the production result. The final reported impact is LOW.';NO MANUAL CHECK; ,and ActionableScore result is Ordinary Moderate (with actual score 1)	MAYBE	REMOTE INIT SIMPLEFIX LEAK NETWORK LINUS DECREASED_TO_MODERATE_REGULAR_FROM_MODERATE7_BASED_ON_GUESSCVSS DECREASED_TO_LOW_FROM_MODERATE_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCORELESSTHAN3 KPANIC_UNSUPPORTED_REMOVED V64_AEGIS_UNSUPPORTED_PROMOTION_BLOCKED	-	-	checked

======================================================================
ACTIONABLESCORE ANALYSIS
======================================================================

ActionableScore=1
PrimitiveClass=CLASS_C
RealUAF=NO
HostAdminRequired=UNKNOWN
NamespaceScopedPrivilege=UNKNOWN
ImportantCandidate=NO
ManualReview=NO
AutoDowngradeAllowed=YES
RequiresHostUID0=UNKNOWN
AuthorizationDecisionBypass=NO
ProtectedResourceImpact=NONE
B4PendingReview=NO
B4PendingConfirmed=NO

1. ActionableScore

* Raw base score: 1.
* Conservative score: 1; no floor or cap applied.
* Raw paranoid score: 1.
* Paranoid score: 1; unproven attacker control of error completions does not justify another point.
* Final recommended bucket: **Ordinary Moderate**::

2. Signal breakdown

* +1 Concrete persistent kernel resource/ref leak: on an RX error, the AF_XDP zero-copy branch failed to call `xsk_buff_free()`, permanently withholding the attached XSK buffer from normal pool reuse.
* +0 Resource exhaustion/DoS: repeated leaks can deplete the finite XSK pool and starve the affected queue or interface, but host-wide exhaustion or persistent impact beyond that data path is not shown.
* No OOB access, UAF, memory corruption, arbitrary write, disclosure, authorization bypass, or protected-state integrity effect is evidenced.
* No reachability bonus: ordinary network traffic is not shown to force `rx_error` completion descriptors reliably.
* No privilege penalty: the complete AF_XDP zero-copy setup and trigger privilege requirements are not established.
* NEW52/B5-R does not apply: there is no retry-accumulated heap OOB write or later consumption of corrupted structured state.
* NEW53/B3-PENDING and NEW54/B4-PENDING do not apply: no shared-backing write or DENY-to-ALLOW authorization change exists.

3. Reachability analysis

The vulnerable path requires GVE DQO RX with AF_XDP zero-copy and an error completion. A local actor may configure or use the XSK path, while an adjacent peer may influence received traffic, but the evidence does not show either actor can reliably cause the hardware `rx_error` condition. The capability namespace, host setup requirements, and complete trigger privilege therefore remain unknown. No special timing race is involved.

4. Primitive and severity reading

The exact defect is omission of an XSK-buffer release on an error path. It retains a fixed pool resource; it does not access the buffer after free or corrupt active state. The shown consequence is gradual queue/interface receive starvation if enough error completions occur. Broader host DoS and attacker-controlled repetition remain unproven. This is CLASS_C resource-retention behavior, not an Important-preserving corruption primitive, so automatic Moderate/Low-like handling is permissible.

5. One-sentence report phrase

A GVE AF_XDP zero-copy RX error leaks its attached XSK buffer, potentially exhausting the affected buffer pool without evidence of memory corruption or host-wide impact.

6. Manual review advice

NO MANUAL CHECK NEEDED

The patch establishes only a constrained resource leak, and stronger attacker reachability or cross-boundary effects are unsupported.

7. Call-site confidence

Call-site confidence: high

======================================================================
UPSTREAM PATCH SUMMARY
======================================================================

Patch: gve: fix XSK buffer leak on error descriptor
Commit: 06656aaa7e43ae62b673c2244d27099b8b94a70d
Upstream URL: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=06656aaa7e43ae62b673c2244d27099b8b94a70d

Commit description:

When the error bit is set in the RX completion descriptor, the buf_state
and its attached buffer should be freed. In the case of AF_XDP ZC, the
XSK buffer was not freed, leading to a leak.

This issue was caught by LLM.

Fixes: c1fffc5 ("gve: implement DQO RX datapath and control path for AF_XDP zero-copy")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Reviewed-by: Jordan Rhee <jordanrhee@google.com>
Reviewed-by: Tim Hostetler <thostet@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Joshua Washington <joshwash@google.com>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260930214735.3288780-3-joshwash@google.com
Signed-off-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>

Changed files:
  drivers/net/ethernet/google/gve/gve_rx_dqo.c

Diff excerpt:

Not included in this email. See the upstream URL for the full patch.

Full patch:
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/commit/?id=06656aaa7e43ae62b673c2244d27099b8b94a70d

======================================================================
DETAILED REPORT METHODOLOGY
======================================================================

The original Linux kernel CVE announcement for CVE-2026-99046 can be found here:
https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/?q=CVE-2026-99046

The original CVE announcement normally does not include a security-level
estimate. In particular, it may not contain a CVSS assessment, an impact
level, or enough information to determine whether the reported bug is a
practically relevant security issue. One purpose of this parallel CVE list
is to provide that missing technical and prioritization information.

The original goal of the AL-KERNEL project was to prioritize Linux kernel
CVE analysis automatically before manual review. The system can also help
identify non-security issues that may be suitable for automatic closure.

This report was generated by AL-KERNEL, an AI-assisted Linux kernel
vulnerability analysis system developed by Alexander Larkin.

The first analysis stage combines an autonomous classifier with additional
LLM-based analysis. The autonomous classifier runs locally on a CPU and is
based on a backpropagation neural network. Together, these mechanisms
produce a technical vulnerability description, identify likely weakness
types, estimate CVSS severity, and provide input for ActionableScore.

Two CVSS estimates are retained because incomplete kernel vulnerability
information often permits more than one defensible interpretation:

  Conservative CVSS vector: AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
  The Best / paranoid CVSS vector: AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
  The Best / paranoid CVSS score: 3.1

The conservative vector represents a lower-impact interpretation.
The Best/paranoid vector intentionally represents a plausible upper-bound
interpretation and should not automatically be treated as demonstrated
real-world impact.

CVSS may also need to be adjusted for a particular Linux deployment,
because actual reachability, privileges, enabled kernel configuration,
hardware, namespaces, exposed device nodes, and other environmental
conditions can differ significantly between systems.

A separate ActionableScore mechanism evaluates practical remediation
urgency. Its analysis may include reachability, attack prerequisites,
subsystem exposure, memory-corruption characteristics, denial-of-service
reliability, and possible confidentiality, integrity, or
privilege-escalation impact.

  Conservative ActionableScore: unknown
  Paranoid ActionableScore: 1

The final base severity is taken directly from the second tab-separated
field of the AL-KERNEL classification result. ActionableScore does not
replace or independently override that final AL-KERNEL decision, and
if ActionableScore adjusted impact level of ALKERNEL, then you would see
self-readable flags above like INCREASED_TO_HIGH_BASED_ON_ACTIONABLESCOREHIGHEREQTHAN7.

For an AL-KERNEL result of MODERATE, this report uses the following
additional presentation split:

  ActionableScore below 5   -> MODERATE REGULAR
  ActionableScore 5 or more -> MODERATE 7.0

The distinction between MODERATE REGULAR and MODERATE 7.0 makes it
possible to identify Moderate issues that should receive manual analysis
and fixes before lower-priority MODERATE REGULAR issues. In many cases,
MODERATE REGULAR fixes may wait for a later rebase or routine update.

There is one override in which MODERATE REGULAR becomes MODERATE 7.0
even when the ActionableScore is below 5. When the AL-KERNEL result
contains the KPANIC flag, a MODERATE result is always presented as
MODERATE 7.0. The KPANIC flag selected with few regexps without
usage of AI at all, so it helps to detect cases when Kernel Crash happens
and similar (to filter False-Negative results from the LLM usage).

KPANIC indicates that a reliable kernel crash, kernel panic, or similarly
serious kernel availability impact was identified by the classification
workflow.

AL-KERNEL base severity for this report: LOW
KPANIC detected for this report: NO
Published priority for this report (same as in Subject): LOW

These results are intended to support engineering triage. They are
machine-generated estimates, and cases marked for manual review should
be validated by a human security engineer before final disposition.
For more info read docs linked from here: https://kernelcve.org/
(and you can submit you own patch there to generate such a report
for non-existant CVE-id yet).

Note that in many cases this AI tool selects higher severity, than
real is (means you can expect Importants instead of Moderate 7.0 or
Moderates 7.0 instead of regular Moderates). If you see such cases,
please use reply email interface to add additional manual analyses
info to this particular CVE.
And please, please, let me know when you see Lows instead of Importants
or Important instead of Low (because particular for such cases I
need to tune this AI tool to make it better for this one and next similar).
My contact email for such notifications is alexanjelausa@gmail.com (and both
send reply to CVE record itself too and see "reply" button below for howto reply).