netfilter: nf_nat_sip: reload possible stale data pointer
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_nat_sip: reload possible stale data pointer quoting sashiko: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [..] noticed a potential memory bug and header corruption involving the SIP NAT helper. In net/netfilter/nf_nat_sip.c:nf_nat_sip(): if (skb_ensure_writable(skb, skb->len)) { nf_ct_helper_log(skb, ct, "cannot mangle packet"); return NF_DROP; } uh = (void *)skb->data + protoff; uh->dest = ct_sip_info->forced_dport; if (!nf_nat_mangle_udp_packet(skb, ct, ctinfo, protoff, 0, 0, NULL, 0)) { If a cloned or fragmented SKB is reallocated by skb_ensure_writable(), the old data buffer is freed. However, nf_nat_sip() fails to update *dptr to point to the new buffer. It also appears to use nf_nat_mangle_udp_packet() on what could be a TCP packet, which would overwrite the sequence number with a checksum update. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nf_conntrack_sip linerizes skbs, hence no fragmented skb can be seen. But clones are possible, so rebuild dptr. Disable nf_nat_mangle_udp_packet() branch for TCP streams. It doesn't look like this can ever happen, else we should have received bug reports about this, so just check the conntrack is UDP and drop otherwise. The calling conntrack_sip set ->forced_dport for SIP_HDR_VIA_UDP messages, so I don't think this is ever expected to be true for a TCP stream.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.261, 5.15.212, 6.1.178, 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-72251
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-56q2-hf63-wxmq
- 2026-10-13 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-13 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-16 CISA SSVC decision points changed
- 2026-11-05 CVSS score changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/bded21a4bf9bf86a79148be735723a97ca9a7532
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/dc11f26685aa850f237226f0f463647aea58ab7c
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e38143c9b477f2968024c47c647dd4456a40aff1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/57e4e29644ec054d7021d296407e7ddd844afea2
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/eae9c6ccb5af69c713a65f8ae219f5c1aa32cd17
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2bcf2c5052fb5e73e255140ab43f056aef409c27
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0e76e3e886cc9ee027337d5ad39cb96f57b7bdc7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/77e43bcb7ec177e293a5c3f1b91a2c5aebfb6c68
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Sources
- CVE-2026-72251 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-72251 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-56q2-hf63-wxmq · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-72251 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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