KernelScan.io

CRITICAL

net/ipv6 RPL Headroom Overflow

CVE-2026-43501

CVSS 9.8 / 10.0 NVD

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

KernelScan AI9.1CRITICAL

01

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.

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

A crafted IPv6 RPL Source Routing Header can trigger an out-of-bounds write in kernel memory, potentially leading to system crash or code execution. Systems with IPv6 and RPL segment routing enabled are at risk from network-based attacks.

Affectednet/ipv6/exthdrs.c (IPv6 extension headers)

Vulnerability analysis

The ipv6_rpl_srh_rcv() function processes RFC 6554 Source Routing Headers without properly checking headroom when recompressed headers grow larger than originals. When skb_push() consumes too much headroom, skb_mac_header_rebuild() causes integer underflow in the u16 mac_header field, leading to memmove() writing mac_len bytes ~64KiB past the allocated buffer. The fix ensures adequate headroom is reserved for both the header growth and MAC header reconstruction.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
5.105.10.258bde199c72d31
5.155.15.209be1fa0aa9b4f
6.16.1.1750a9e8053f1f8
6.126.12.864babc2d9fda2
6.186.18.27c261d07a8057
6.66.6.1408e8be63465a5
7.07.0.47398ebefbfd4
mainline7.1-rc29e6bf146b559