CVE-2026-98531

Description

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.

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EPSS — Exploit Prediction

0.0022

Probability of exploitation

0.13%

Percentile rank

EPSS estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A higher score means more likely to be exploited.

References

Other References

https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/050a0aa3c80907b8c60a396b7e04d48d8b1a9e70 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/195813bb7324c338eaba0aaa02b18681ee65b670 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/209eefebee54c4a5f01d68b61e8ac9881eca2de9 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/2d959c75c27f90e9ec489d18ce5ee6b852ad4741 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/66bf65fa109326e4c4ddeb0b94093379f72838fd https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6fcfc362344edea745a69f3a705de50b731f3418 https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/94214cf0a08dd2c5f37aeeea46078d9dfe8e4a0e https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/e3ac68c1cdc2535d127b2bfd50c263d16c8e4199

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-98531? +

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.

How do I check if I'm vulnerable to CVE-2026-98531? +

You can use Secably's free Website Scanner to check your website for known vulnerabilities. For infrastructure scanning, use the Port Scanner to identify exposed services that may be affected. Check the vendor advisories linked above for specific patch and version information.