CVE-2026-98852

What it is

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: extend IPv6 exthdr detection of tunneled packets Commit c4336a07eb6b ("net: correctly handle tunneled traffic on IPV6_CSUM GSO fallback") split skb_gso_has_extension_hdr() into mutually exclusive branches on skb->encapsulation. This did not yet address all paths: 1. With skb->encapsulation set, the outer header is not checked. IPv6 tunnels such as ip6_gre and ip6_tunnel add an outer Destination Options header by default (encap_limit). Their GSO packets skip software GSO, then skb_csum_hwoffload_help() sees the outer extension header and calls skb_checksum_help() on the GSO skb, which warns and drops it. 2. Tunnels over IPv6 without an outer transport header, such as ip6_tunnel, leave skb->transport_header at the inner transport header. skb_network_header_len() then spans the outer IPv6, tunnel and inner IP headers, a false positive. 3. UDP tunnels without an inner network header, such as SCTP-in-UDP or PSP, have no inner IPv6 header to check. Decide on the outer header alone. 4. Directly dereferencing inner_ip_hdr(skb)->version without skb_header_pointer() is unsafe. Instead, check ipv6_ext_hdr(nexthdr) on the outer IPv6 header and, if set, on the inner IPv6 header. Read the headers with skb_header_pointer(). Keep the skb_network_header_len() check when !skb->encapsulation to also catch encapsulated packets without skb->encapsulation (e.g., virtio). Use the same helper in skb_csum_hwoffload_help(). Its open coded test has the false positive of (2) and ignores the inner header. Background: checksum offload of tunneled packets invariants: Non-GSO skb: - If the inner packet is CHECKSUM_PARTIAL, Local Checksum Offload computes the outer checksum in software and the device offloads only the inner L4 checksum. - If the inner packet is CHECKSUM_NONE (e.g., SCTP-in-UDP, ESP-in-UDP, Remote Checksum Offload), the device offloads the outer UDP or GRE checksum instead. GSO skb: - A device with NETIF_F_GSO_UDP_TUNNEL_CSUM or NETIF_F_GSO_GRE_CSUM computes both inner and outer checksums per segment. The outer checksum is seeded with only the pseudo-header checksum. A NETIF_F_IPV6_CSUM device must parse through the outer headers to reach the inner ones.

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. 2026-10-18 16:17 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-10-21 13:21 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

2026-10-18 16:17 UTC

Last modified

2026-10-21 13:21 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Record status

Received

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