The Linux kernel’s ebtables subsystem had a race condition where the table operations structure was assigned after the ebt mutex was released, exposing a partially initialized table to other kernel code or user-space utilities. This improper exposure could lead to a use‑after‑free or incorrect memory access, potentially crashing the kernel or allowing a malicious user to bypass or tamper with packet filtering rules. The flaw aligns with CWE‑413, which covers improper cleanup or use‑after‑free errors.

All Linux kernel releases that include the ebtables component are potentially vulnerable, as the issue resides in core netfilter ebtables code. No precise version ranges are supplied, so any kernel variant containing ebtables should be inspected for the presence of this race condition and patched accordingly.

With a CVSS score of 7.8, the vulnerability falls into the high‑severity category. The EPSS score of less than 1% indicates a low likelihood of exploitation, and the flaw is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. Likely attack vectors involve interacting with ebtables through command‑line utilities or network traffic that triggers table creation or removal, giving an attacker the opportunity to initiate the problematic removal routine and cause a crash or filtering bypass.