What is CVE-2026-46172?

CVE-2026-46172 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability, affecting Linux kernel versions from 5.8 onward and patched in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. CVE-2026-46172 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-46172?

CVE-2026-46172 has a CVSS score of pending NVD analysis out of 10, rated awaiting scoring severity.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46172?

Yes, CVE-2026-46172 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-46172 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-46172 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-46172

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: xfrm6: release dst on error in xfrm6_rcv_encap() xfrm6_rcv_encap() performs an IPv6 route lookup when the skb does not already have a dst attached. ip6_route_input_lookup() returns a referenced dst entry even when the lookup resolves to an error route. If dst->error is set, xfrm6_rcv_encap() drops the skb without attaching the dst to the skb and without releasing the reference returned by the lookup. Repeated packets hitting this path therefore leak dst entries. Release the dst before jumping to the drop path.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-05-28

Last modified 2026-06-01

Patch available

Yes

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 5.8 and later are affected. Fixed in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175, 6.6.140, 6.12.88, 6.18.30, 7.0.7, 7.1-rc3 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 5.8

Fixed in

✓ 5.10.258 5.10.x ✓ 5.15.209 5.15.x ✓ 6.1.175 6.1.x ✓ 6.6.140 6.6.x ✓ 6.12.88 6.12.x ✓ 6.18.30 6.18.x ✓ 7.0.7 7.0.x ✓ 7.1-rc3

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2026-46172 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/554c9b090c8ac5b1c5c507f4badf8d5d0c9c6e13
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/6a5eec0a2a0e99ec9743cf8f1c4082178811d90a
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/870560015ce6e0d8f841c6a8aba33c44be52c727
Patch

8 patch commits total View all on NVD

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-46172?

CVE-2026-46172 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 5.8 onward and has been patched in 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. CVE-2026-46172 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-46172?

Yes — CVE-2026-46172 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.258, 5.15.209, 6.1.175 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 5.8 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-46172 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2026-46172 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.