Out of bounds read in Linux kernel IPv6 segment routing
Key facts
- Attack vector
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- Privileges required
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- User interaction
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- Attack complexity
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- Impact type
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- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
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- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 5 without a fix
No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel from 4.10 is affected in its IPv6 segment routing (seg6) Generic Netlink interface. The SEG6_ATTR_DST attribute accepts payloads shorter than an IPv6 address, so the kernel copies 16 bytes past the end of the buffer and stores uninitialized kernel memory. A process that sends a short SEG6_ATTR_DST attribute can read that memory back from userspace through SEG6_CMD_GET_TUNSRC.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: enforce exact attribute length for SEG6_ATTR_DST In seg6_genl_policy, SEG6_ATTR_DST is defined with .type = NLA_BINARY and .len = sizeof(struct in6_addr). For NLA_BINARY, .len only enforces the maximum payload length and permits shorter payloads (e.g., 0 bytes). When seg6_genl_set_tunsrc() copies sizeof(struct in6_addr) bytes via kmemdup(val, sizeof(*val), GFP_KERNEL), a short SEG6_ATTR_DST attribute triggers a 16-byte out-of-bounds read past skb->tail into uninitialized skb->head memory, which is stored in sdata->tun_src and leaked back to userspace via SEG6_CMD_GET_TUNSRC. Switch SEG6_ATTR_DST in seg6_genl_policy to NLA_POLICY_EXACT_LEN(sizeof(struct in6_addr)) so that generic netlink validation rejects any attribute whose length is not exactly sizeof(struct in6_addr) with -ERANGE. Tested in QEMU against Linux 7.3.0-rc3 by sending a SEG6_CMD_SET_TUNSRC Generic Netlink message with a 0-byte SEG6_ATTR_DST attribute followed by SEG6_CMD_GET_TUNSRC. On the unfixed kernel, SEG6_CMD_SET_TUNSRC succeeds (err = 0) and SEG6_CMD_GET_TUNSRC leaks 16 bytes of uninitialized kernel heap memory (tun_src = 836a61ecc4d25a1042a8d60411cfb378); with this patch applied, SEG6_CMD_SET_TUNSRC is rejected by netlink policy validation with -ERANGE (-34) and tun_src remains zeroed.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Fixed Linux kernel versions are 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9 and 7.3. Red Hat lists Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 as affected, with the plan none available.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189, 6.6.158, 6.12.112, 6.18.55, 7.2.9, 7.3
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
Not affected: 2 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Timeline
- 2026-10-18 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-98531
- 2026-10-18 Alias added: GHSA-365h-h8v6-r47m
- 2026-10-19 Fix available: Linux/[email protected] · CNA
- 2026-10-20 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-20 CVSS score added · Red Hat
- 2026-10-30 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/050a0aa3c80907b8c60a396b7e04d48d8b1a9e70
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/209eefebee54c4a5f01d68b61e8ac9881eca2de9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3ac68c1cdc2535d127b2bfd50c263d16c8e4199
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66bf65fa109326e4c4ddeb0b94093379f72838fd
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/195813bb7324c338eaba0aaa02b18681ee65b670
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6fcfc362344edea745a69f3a705de50b731f3418
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94214cf0a08dd2c5f37aeeea46078d9dfe8e4a0e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d959c75c27f90e9ec489d18ce5ee6b852ad4741
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Sources
- CVE-2026-98531 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-98531 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-365h-h8v6-r47m · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-98531 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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