CVE-2026-72250
NVD analysis in progress
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: nf_conntrack_reasm: guard mac_header adjustment after IPv6 defrag nf_ct_frag6_reasm() slides the packet head forward to drop the IPv6 fragment header and then unconditionally advances skb->mac_header: skb->mac_header += sizeof(struct frag_hdr); On the NF_INET_LOCAL_OUT defrag path the skb has no link-layer header yet, so skb->mac_header is still the "not set" sentinel (u16)~0U. Adding sizeof(struct frag_hdr) wraps it to a small value (0xffff + 8 == 7), after which skb_mac_header_was_set() wrongly reports a MAC header is present and skb_mac_header() points into the headroom. The reassembler has done this unconditional add since it was introduced; it was harmless while mac_header was a bare pointer, but wrong once mac_header became a u16 offset whose unset state is the ~0U sentinel tested by skb_mac_header_was_set(). The sibling net/ipv6/reassembly.c does the same relocation and does guard the adjustment; mirror the guard here.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable with local access to the machine, with an ordinary user account and with no action from the victim.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score stays low: nothing points to imminent exploitation, which is no reason to leave it unpatched.
What to doFold into the next patch cycle.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.