Side-channel leak of UDP ephemeral ports in Linux kernel IPv4
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 7 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
The Linux kernel IPv4 UDP code creates a FIB nexthop exception only when an ICMP Fragmentation Needed or Redirect message quoting a UDP packet matches an existing socket. An off-path attacker can use this side channel on the exception cache to learn the ephemeral port of a connected UDP socket.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-03
Description from the CNA
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv4: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching Currently, when ICMP Fragmentation Needed and Redirect Message packets are locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, a FIB nexthop exception (FNHE) is only created 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 FNHE cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a connected UDP socket. Commit 6457378fe796 ("ipv4: use siphash instead of Jenkins in fnhe_hashfun()") and commit 67d6d681e15b ("ipv4: make exception cache less predictible") tried to mitigate such attacks by making it harder for attackers to discover hash collisions in the FNHE 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 a FNHE, even before trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling ipv4_update_pmtu() and ipv4_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 a FNHE being created or updated in the cache that the attacker can observe. Pass an oif of 0, in a similar fashion to icmp_err(). This is also the oif used by the socket path for sockets that are not bound to a device. Note that this does not allow attackers to create FNHEs that they could not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with little to no validation. For example, by sending an ICMP error that quotes an ICMP 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 ipv4_sk_update_pmtu() / ipv4_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 FNHE cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers and another in the FNHE cache of the nexthop used by the socket.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
Remediation
Update the Linux kernel to a fixed version on its stable branch: 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.11 or 7.3. The sources list no fixed version for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9 and 10 or Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5, and no fix planned for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-03
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.10.273, 5.15.224, 6.1.191, 6.6.161, 6.12.115, 6.18.59, 7.2.11, 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 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | 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 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-23 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-99077
- 2026-10-23 Alias added: GHSA-xqqf-wrfv-j8jm
- 2026-10-24 CVSS score added · CNA
- 2026-10-24 Priority changed: LOW → MEDIUM
- 2026-10-24 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
- 2026-10-26 Fix available: Linux/[email protected], Linux/Linux@ecd7ead4bf05e221e90f18a29aec570a50fd1592 · CNA
- 2026-10-26 1 new reference · CNA
- 2026-10-30 Fix available: Linux/Linux@0cf0ff2f728f2a1434c56c0bcf267fe230abf124, Linux/Linux@3b92e4349c6b0dd1e05d5f0483e71ef37691b1c3, Linux/[email protected] +7 · CNA
- 2026-10-30 5 new references · CNA
- 2026-11-03 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-03 CVSS score added · Red Hat
References
Other 8
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e8f211a37396f1684af9ac81b3fc53538eb9c2f7
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9f97b01ee799bdf57d9183623f3987c8bbfd4f6f
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e0cd4942831d4ef8f6d4b90b0d3510460fdfbceb
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0cf0ff2f728f2a1434c56c0bcf267fe230abf124
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/3b92e4349c6b0dd1e05d5f0483e71ef37691b1c3
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ecd7ead4bf05e221e90f18a29aec570a50fd1592
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/be4fd05398f2b5e42029be70ee875fc749b8ce3a
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4c3499f79f8c7e8561266bcc220a18538cec0458
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Sources
- CVE-2026-99077 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-99077 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-xqqf-wrfv-j8jm · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-99077 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences