What is CVE-2026-72429?

CVE-2026-72429 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10, affecting Linux kernel versions from 6.16 onward and patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72429 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72429?

CVE-2026-72429 has a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10, rated Critical severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72429?

Yes, CVE-2026-72429 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.

Is CVE-2026-72429 actively exploited?

CVE-2026-72429 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

CVE-2026-72429

Critical

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: ioam: fix type confusion of dst_entry IOAM uses a dummy dst_entry(null_dst) to mark that the destination should not be changed after the transformation. This dst is stored in the IOAM lwt state and may be passed to dst_cache_set_ip6(). However, the IPv6 dst cache path eventually calls rt6_get_cookie(), which treats the dst_entry as part of a struct rt6_info. Since the null_dst was embedded directly as a struct dst_entry in struct ioam6_lwt, this resulted in an invalid cast and rt6_get_cookie() reading fields from the wrong object. In practice, the wrong cookie is not used while dst->obsolete is zero, but rt6_get_cookie() may also access per-cpu value when rt->sernum is zero. In this case, rt->sernum aliases ioam6_lwt::cache::reset_ts, which can become zero, making this a potential invalid pointer access. Fix this by embedding a full struct rt6_info for the dummy IPv6 route and passing its dst member to the dst APIs.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2026-08-15

Last modified 2026-08-17

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Yes

CVSS 3.1 score

9.8

out of 10

Critical

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected versions

Linux kernel versions 6.16 and later are affected. Fixed in 6.18.40, 7.1.5, 7.2 and their respective stable series.

Affected from

≥ 6.16

Fixed in

✓ 6.18.40 6.18.x ✓ 7.1.5 7.1.x ✓ 7.2

References

3 total

Details

CVE ID CVE-2026-72429

Severity Critical

CVSS score 9.8 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2026-08-15

Modified 2026-08-17

KEV No

Patch

Yes

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72429?

CVE-2026-72429 is a Critical severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10 . It affects Linux kernel versions from 6.16 onward and has been patched in 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. CVE-2026-72429 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2026-72429?

CVE-2026-72429 has a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10, rated Critical severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-72429?

Yes. CVE-2026-72429 has been patched. Fixed versions include 6.18.40, 7.1.5 and 7.2. If you are running Linux kernel 6.16 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
Is CVE-2026-72429 actively exploited?

No. CVE-2026-72429 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.