CVE-2026-98255

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: tcp: exclude old ACKs from tcp fast path Exclude old ACKs before SND.UNA from the tcp fast path as well as ACKs after SND.NXT. Such ACKs will fall through to the slow path, where tcp_ack() performs the appropriate validation and challenge ACK handling according to RFC5961 and Commit 3d501dd326fb1c7 ("tcp: do not accept ACK of bytes we never sent"). This prevents old ACKs from being accepted or modifying connection state as part of the fast path before appropriate ACK validation is applied. In particular, this prevents payload carried by a segment with an excessively old ACK from advancing RCV.NXT before the ACK is rejected.

At a glance

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.

Timeline

1. 2026-10-06 09:18 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-10-19 10:18 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: not scored yet.
• Fix: none linked yet, which raises it.

Details

Published

2026-10-06 09:18 UTC

Last modified

2026-10-19 10:18 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Record status

Received

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