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TI-2026-79869 Aliases CVE-2026-99076GHSA-r224-867j-vfxf

Side channel in Linux kernel IPv6 exception cache leaks UDP ports

Priority LOW 22Published · Updated

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: 6 without a fix

No CVSS vector from any source. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

The Linux kernel from 4.15 handles ICMPv6 Packet Too Big and Redirect messages that quote a UDP packet so that an exception is created only when a matching socket exists. An off-path attacker can run a side-channel attack on the IPv6 exception cache to discover the ephemeral port used by a connected UDP socket. The fix always creates the exception before socket matching, so guesses by an attacker always leave an observable entry in the cache.

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: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching Currently, when ICMPv6 Packet Too Big and Redirect Message packets are locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, an exception is only created in the IPv6 exception cache if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an existing socket. This behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack on the exception cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a connected UDP socket. Commit 4785305c05b2 ("ipv6: use siphash in rt6_exception_hash()") and commit a00df2caffed ("ipv6: make exception cache less predictible") tried to mitigate such attacks by making it harder for attackers to discover hash collisions in the exception cache and by randomizing the number of exceptions a hash bucket can hold, respectively. Unfortunately, both of the mitigations can be bypassed. Instead, mitigate such attacks by always creating an exception, even before trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling ip6_update_pmtu() and ip6_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted packet did not originate from a socket. This means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will always result in an exception being created or updated in the cache that the attacker can observe. Pass the ifindex of the ingress device and the default uid, in a similar fashion to icmpv6_err(). Unlike IPv4, an oif of 0 would not match any nexthop in ip6_redirect_nh_match() and no exception would be created in response to a Redirect Message. Note that this does not allow attackers to create exceptions that they could not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with little to no validation. For example, by sending an ICMPv6 error that quotes an ICMPv6 Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that matches a wildcard socket. Also note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes at the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform their own lookup before the one performed by ip6_sk_update_pmtu() / ip6_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also results in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One in the exception cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers and another in the exception cache of the nexthop used by the socket.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00165 5th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 6.18.61, 7.2.11, 7.3Red Hat: 6 without a fix

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux4.15 and later6.18.61, 7.2.11, 7.3Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 4.15 and later Fixed in 6.18.61, 7.2.11, 7.3 Patch available CNA

CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1

Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Linux

Remediation

Update the Linux kernel to 6.18.61, 7.2.11 or 7.3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 has no fix planned, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8, 9 and 10 and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5 have no fix available.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 6.18.61, 7.2.11, 7.3

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6AffectedNo fix planned: Out of support scope
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 5AffectedNo fix yet: Fix deferred
Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-23 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99076
  2. 2026-10-23 Alias added: GHSA-r224-867j-vfxf
  3. 2026-11-02 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
  4. 2026-11-02 CVSS score added · Red Hat
  5. 2026-11-06 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@fc1fc874ceed4db566a5efbff39313d3d91d424a · CNA
  6. 2026-11-06 1 new reference · CNA

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2021-02452 Incorrect authorization in Ubuntu linux kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
See all 21727 →

Sources