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VulnerabilityPublished Updated

CVE-2026-98532: Linux kernel · ipv6: do not let ipv6_find_hdr() return an offset past the packet end

Affects Linux kernelSource GCVE Database

0
Authoritative record:CVE-2026-98532· High 8.1

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.1 High.

Data as of 27 Oct 2026, 08:41 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score
8.1High
How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploitation evidence

  1. Disclosed: evidence found.

    CVE published 18 Oct 2026

  2. Detectable: no evidence on record.

    No public nuclei template indexed

  3. Weaponised: no evidence on record.

    No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB

  4. Exploited in the wild: no evidence on record.

    Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation

  5. Observed by OffSeq 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 26 Oct 2026.

What to do

Affected software

ProductAffectedFixed in
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinuxpkg:deb/ubuntu/linux?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-5.5 – 7.0.0-38.38
23 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-awspkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-aws?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1014.14
15 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azurepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1017.17
15 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-azure-fdepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-azure-fde?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1003.3 – 7.0.0-1016.16
9 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gcppkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gcp?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 6.17.0-1002.2 – 7.0.0-1014.14
13 affected builds
Fixed in–
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSlinux-gkepkg:deb/ubuntu/linux-gke?arch=source&distro=resoluteOther threatsAffected
  • 7.0.0-1002.3 – 7.0.0-1008.9
6 affected builds
Fixed in–

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A fix for this vulnerability has been implemented that bounds the offset returned by ipv6_find_hdr() to prevent it from exceeding the packet length and rejects malformed IPv6 extension headers with invalid lengths. Users should apply the official patches or upgrade to fixed kernel versions to remediate this issue. Since this is a kernel-level vulnerability, updating the Linux kernel to a patched version is the recommended mitigation.

Description

CVE-2026-98532 is a high severity vulnerability in the Linux kernel's IPv6 implementation where the function ipv6_find_hdr() can return an offset beyond the end of a packet. This flaw allows out-of-bounds memory access when the Open vSwitch component uses this offset as the transport header, leading to a use-after-free error and potential kernel memory corruption.

References

Community reviews

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