{"id":"CVE-2026-98498","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-98498"],"related":[],"title":"Linux kernel: mlx5 connection-tracking counter leaks a reference on lookup","description":"In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nnet/mlx5: Fix rev_entry reference leak in mlx5_tc_ct_shared_counter_get()\n\nWhen the reverse entry is found but its counter is already being\nreleased, refcount_inc_not_zero() fails and the reference taken by\nmlx5_tc_ct_entry_get() is never dropped before falling through to\ncreate_counter.  Drop it so the reverse entry is not kept alive forever\nby a shared counter lookup that did not use it.","summary":"In the Linux kernel's mlx5 network driver, a shared connection-tracking counter lookup fails to drop a reference when the counter is already being released, so the reverse entry is never freed. The sources describe a resource leak, and they do not say whether an attacker can exploit it to run code or read data.","severity":"unknown","cvss":null,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["infrastructure","linux-kernel","mlx5","nvidia-connectx","self-hosted"],"not_affected_if":["no-mlx5-hardware","offload-disabled"],"how_to_check":"- unknown","fix":"- unknown","status":"open","published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:00+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:15+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-10-25T05:25:34+00:00","updated_at":"2026-10-25T05:25:34+00:00","category":"infrastructure","confidence":0.4,"triage":{"at":"2026-10-25T05:25:34Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- unknown","reach":"unknown","title":"Linux kernel: mlx5 connection-tracking counter leaks a reference on lookup","impact":"low","summary":"In the Linux kernel's mlx5 network driver, a shared connection-tracking counter lookup fails to drop a reference when the counter is already being released, so the reverse entry is never freed. The sources describe a resource leak, and they do not say whether an attacker can exploit it to run code or read data.","category":"infrastructure","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["linux-kernel","mlx5","nvidia-connectx","self-hosted"],"confidence":0.4,"needs_auth":"unknown","worst_case":"unknown; sources describe a reference leak only","analyst_note":"Check the NVD entry and the upstream kernel stable commit for the affected and fixed kernel versions and any exploitability rating.","how_to_check":"- unknown","needs_analyst":true,"not_affected_if":["no-mlx5-hardware","offload-disabled"],"who_is_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the mlx5 driver (Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX NICs) and the TC connection-tracking offload enabled. Hosts without mlx5 hardware or without that offload are not affected by this code path. The sources do not say which kernel versions are fixed.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"yes","severity_if_unknown":"unknown"},"cost_usd":0.000589,"input_tokens":3387,"output_tokens":500,"severity_before":"unknown"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':14A,17A '-98498':15A,18A 'aliv':156C 'alreadi':54B,120C 'attack':77B 'code':83B 'connect':5A,41B 'connection-track':4A,40B 'connectx':26B 'counter':7A,43B,52B,108C,118C,146C,161C 'creat':145C 'ct':106C,135C 'cve':13A,16A 'data':86B 'describ':66B 'driver':37B 'drop':47B,140C,147C 'entri':60B,100C,113C,136C,152C 'exploit':79B 'fail':45B,127C 'fall':142C 'fix':98C 'follow':92C 'forev':157C 'found':115C 'freed':63B 'get':109C,137C 'host':29B 'inc':124C 'infrastructur':19B 'kept':155C 'kernel':2A,22B,33B,90C 'leak':8A,69B,102C 'linux':1A,21B,32B,89C 'linux-kernel':20B 'lookup':12A,44B,162C 'mlx5':3A,23B,35B,104C,133C 'net/mlx5':97C 'network':36B 'never':62B,139C 'nvidia':25B 'nvidia-connectx':24B 'read':85B 'refcount':123C 'refer':10A,49B,101C,130C 'releas':56B,122C 'resolv':96C 'resourc':68B 'rev':99C 'revers':59B,112C,151C 'run':82B 'say':74B 'self':28B 'self-host':27B 'share':39B,107C,160C 'sourc':65B 'taken':131C 'tc':105C,134C 'track':6A,42B 'use':166C 'vulner':93C 'whether':75B 'zero':126C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Systems running a Linux kernel with the mlx5 driver (Mellanox/NVIDIA ConnectX NICs) and the TC connection-tracking offload enabled. Hosts without mlx5 hardware or without that offload are not affected by this code path. The sources do not say which kernel versions are fixed.","tier":"C","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"first_public_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:00+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":null,"cvss_by":null,"poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-98498","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-98498","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-10-18T16:17:00+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-19T10:19:02+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-10-23T21:57:15+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-10-23T22:28:56+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[],"notice":"Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai"}