VulnerabilityPublished 1 Jul 2026Updated 12 Aug 2026

CVE-2026-14258: Infinite Loop

Source GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-14258· Medium 6.5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium : update Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 when convenient.

Data as of 11 Nov 2026, 23:24 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

Thin evidence

One scorer or none

CVSS scores by source
CNA (redhat)	CVSS 3.1	6.5

EPSS: 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 1 Jul 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 11 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-hm5v-wwxq-27x8

What to do

Patches and advisories

access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:54210 (opens in a new tab)

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10dhcpcd	Affected–	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Red Hat has released official patches for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and related variants to fix this vulnerability. Applying these updates fully mitigates the issue. Additional mitigations include disabling IPv6 Router Advertisement processing on systems where it is not required and filtering untrusted ICMPv6 Router Advertisements to prevent malicious packets from reaching vulnerable parsers.

Description

CVE-2026-14258 is a vulnerability in dhcpcd's IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Router Advertisement processing. An adjacent attacker can send a specially crafted IPv6 Router Advertisement containing a zero-length Neighbor Discovery option, causing the parser to enter a non-advancing infinite loop. This results in excessive CPU consumption and a denial of service condition. Red Hat has rated this issue as Moderate severity and released patches for affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 versions. Mitigations include disabling IPv6 Router Advertisement processing where not needed or filtering untrusted ICMPv6 Router Advertisements.

Impact

Successful exploitation results in denial of service due to excessive CPU consumption caused by an infinite loop in the dhcpcd IPv6 Router Advertisement parser. This can disrupt network configuration services on affected systems, potentially impacting availability. No evidence of remote code execution or privilege escalation is indicated. The vulnerability requires an adjacent attacker capable of sending crafted IPv6 Router Advertisements.

Summary

The vulnerability in dhcpcd arises from inconsistent validation of IPv6 Router Advertisements, specifically when processing a zero-length Neighbor Discovery option. This flaw causes the parser to enter an infinite loop that does not advance, leading to excessive CPU usage and denial of service. The issue affects Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 and its variants. Red Hat has issued a security advisory (RHSA-2026:54210) with patches addressing this flaw. The dhcpcd package is responsible for network configuration and supports IPv4 and IPv6 protocols including NDP and DHCP. The root cause is a parsing defect triggered by malformed IPv6 Router Advertisements.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Patches and advisories

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Oct 2026, 23:26 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-835

Technical details

References

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