Buffer overflow in Linux

CVE-2026-43037

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ip6_tunnel: clear skb2->cb[] in ip4ip6_err() Oskar Kjos reported the following problem. ip4ip6_err() calls icmp_send() on a cloned skb whose cb[] was written by the IPv6 receive path as struct inet6_skb_parm. icmp_send() passes IPCB(skb2) to __ip_options_echo(), which interprets that cb[] region as struct inet_skb_parm (IPv4). The layouts differ: inet6_skb_parm.nhoff at offset 14 overlaps inet_skb_parm.opt.rr, producing a non-zero rr value. __ip_options_echo() then reads optlen from attacker-controlled packet data at sptr[rr+1] and copies that many bytes into dopt->__data, a fixed 40-byte stack buffer (IP_OPTIONS_DATA_FIXED_SIZE). To fix this we clear skb2->cb[], as suggested by Oskar Kjos. Also add minimal IPv4 header validation (version == 4, ihl >= 5).

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.008 (55.8th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 56th percentile — 55.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-43037: held from 0.006 to 0.008.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.008 · change: +0.003

Affected products

  • Linux — versions c4d3efafcc933fd2ffd169d7dc4f980393a13796, 2.6.22, 0
  • Linux Kernel — versions 7.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-43037?
CVE-2026-43037 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-05-01.
How severe is CVE-2026-43037?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.