Buffer overflow in Linux

CVE-2026-43501

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: rpl: reserve mac_len headroom when recompressed SRH grows ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv() decompresses an RFC 6554 Source Routing Header, swaps the next segment into ipv6_hdr->daddr, recompresses, then pulls the old header and pushes the new one plus the IPv6 header back. The recompressed header can be larger than the received one when the swap reduces the common-prefix length the segments share with daddr (CmprI=0, CmprE>0, seg[0][0] != daddr[0] gives the maximum +8 bytes). pskb_expand_head() was gated on segments_left == 0, so on earlier segments the push consumed unchecked headroom. Once skb_push() leaves fewer than skb->mac_len bytes in front of data, skb_mac_header_rebuild()'s call to: skb_set_mac_header(skb, -skb->mac_len); will store (data - head) - mac_len into the u16 mac_header field, which wraps to ~65530, and the following memmove() writes mac_len bytes ~64KiB past skb->head. A single AF_INET6/SOCK_RAW/IPV6_HDRINCL packet over lo with a two segment type-3 SRH (CmprI=0, CmprE=15) reaches headroom 8 after one pass; KASAN reports a 14-byte OOB write in ipv6_rthdr_rcv. Fix this by expanding the head whenever the remaining room is less than the push size plus mac_len, and request that much extra so the rebuilt MAC header fits afterwards.

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: 0.010 (61.0th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 61st percentile — 61.0% 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-2026-43501: held from 0.006 to 0.010.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.006 · newest: 0.010 · change: +0.004

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-43501?
CVE-2026-43501 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Linux, classified under Out-of-bounds Write. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-05-21.
How severe is CVE-2026-43501?
Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2026-43501 known to be exploited?
2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.