CVE-2026-99076 (GCVE-0-2026-99076)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-10-23 12:23
Modified
2026-10-23 12:23
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
ipv6: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching
Currently, when ICMPv6 Packet Too Big and Redirect Message packets are
locally delivered and quote a UDP packet, an exception is only created
in the IPv6 exception cache if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an
existing socket.
This behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack
on the exception cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a
connected UDP socket.
Commit 4785305c05b2 ("ipv6: use siphash in rt6_exception_hash()") and
commit a00df2caffed ("ipv6: make exception cache less predictible") tried
to mitigate such attacks by making it harder for attackers to discover
hash collisions in the exception cache and by randomizing the number of
exceptions a hash bucket can hold, respectively. Unfortunately, both of
the mitigations can be bypassed.
Instead, mitigate such attacks by always creating an exception, even
before trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling
ip6_update_pmtu() and ip6_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted
packet did not originate from a socket.
This means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will
always result in an exception being created or updated in the cache that
the attacker can observe.
Pass the ifindex of the ingress device and the default uid, in a similar
fashion to icmpv6_err(). Unlike IPv4, an oif of 0 would not match any
nexthop in ip6_redirect_nh_match() and no exception would be created in
response to a Redirect Message.
Note that this does not allow attackers to create exceptions that they
could not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with
little to no validation. For example, by sending an ICMPv6 error that
quotes an ICMPv6 Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that
matches a wildcard socket.
Also note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes
at the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform
their own lookup before the one performed by ip6_sk_update_pmtu() /
ip6_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also
results in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One
in the exception cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers
and another in the exception cache of the nexthop used by the socket.
References
Impacted products
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"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nipv6: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching\n\nCurrently, when ICMPv6 Packet Too Big and Redirect Message packets are\nlocally delivered and quote a UDP packet, an exception is only created\nin the IPv6 exception cache if the kernel can match the UDP packet to an\nexisting socket.\n\nThis behavior allows off-path attackers to conduct a side-channel attack\non the exception cache in order to discover the ephemeral port used by a\nconnected UDP socket.\n\nCommit 4785305c05b2 (\"ipv6: use siphash in rt6_exception_hash()\") and\ncommit a00df2caffed (\"ipv6: make exception cache less predictible\") tried\nto mitigate such attacks by making it harder for attackers to discover\nhash collisions in the exception cache and by randomizing the number of\nexceptions a hash bucket can hold, respectively. Unfortunately, both of\nthe mitigations can be bypassed.\n\nInstead, mitigate such attacks by always creating an exception, even\nbefore trying to find a matching socket. Do that by calling\nip6_update_pmtu() and ip6_redirect(), the helpers used when the quoted\npacket did not originate from a socket.\n\nThis means that guesses (right or wrong) from an off-path attacker will\nalways result in an exception being created or updated in the cache that\nthe attacker can observe.\n\nPass the ifindex of the ingress device and the default uid, in a similar\nfashion to icmpv6_err(). Unlike IPv4, an oif of 0 would not match any\nnexthop in ip6_redirect_nh_match() and no exception would be created in\nresponse to a Redirect Message.\n\nNote that this does not allow attackers to create exceptions that they\ncould not create before, as both helpers can already be reached with\nlittle to no validation. For example, by sending an ICMPv6 error that\nquotes an ICMPv6 Echo Reply or one that quotes a UDP source port that\nmatches a wildcard socket.\n\nAlso note that in the good case (matched socket) the above scheme comes\nat the cost of an extra route lookup, as the no socket helpers perform\ntheir own lookup before the one performed by ip6_sk_update_pmtu() /\nip6_sk_redirect(). When the two resolve to different nexthops, it also\nresults in two exceptions being created for the same destination IP. One\nin the exception cache of the nexthop resolved by the no socket helpers\nand another in the exception cache of the nexthop used by the socket."
}
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"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T12:23:19.727Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
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"references": [
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"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8c9b310c958be33ba8fb9d0e6b77811d013e10c0"
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{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ac76cab50e899a7346408b8d3c3a4192c2eefb9f"
}
],
"title": "ipv6: udp: Create exceptions before socket matching",
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"cveId": "CVE-2026-99076",
"datePublished": "2026-10-23T12:23:19.727Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-09-25T10:25:14.389Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-10-23T12:23:19.727Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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