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.
Affected versions
Linux kernel versions
4.10
and later are affected. Fixed in
5.10.271,
5.15.222,
6.1.189,
6.6.158,
6.12.112,
6.18.55,
7.2.9,
7.3
and their respective stable series.
References
8 totalFrequently asked questions
-
What is CVE-2026-98531?
CVE-2026-98531 is a unscored severity Linux kernel vulnerability . It affects Linux kernel versions from 4.10 onward and has been patched in 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189 and others. CVE-2026-98531 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
-
Is there a patch available for CVE-2026-98531?
Yes. CVE-2026-98531 has been patched. Fixed versions include 5.10.271, 5.15.222, 6.1.189 and others. If you are running Linux kernel 4.10 or later up to the fix versions, apply the relevant patch for your kernel branch.
-
Is CVE-2026-98531 actively exploited?
No. CVE-2026-98531 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.