Copyright © 2012 Red Hat, Inc. All rights reserved. Important 2026-05-27T00:00:00 kernel: net: ipv6: fix NOREF dst use in seg6 and rpl lwtunnels 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H CWE-911

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: ipv6: fix NOREF dst use in seg6 and rpl lwtunnels seg6_input_core() and rpl_input() call ip6_route_input() which sets a NOREF dst on the skb, then pass it to dst_cache_set_ip6() invoking dst_hold() unconditionally. On PREEMPT_RT, ksoftirqd is preemptible and a higher-priority task can release the underlying pcpu_rt between the lookup and the caching through a concurrent FIB lookup on a shared nexthop. Simplified race sequence: ksoftirqd/X higher-prio task (same CPU X) ----------- -------------------------------- seg6_input_core(,skb)/rpl_input(skb) dst_cache_get() -> miss ip6_route_input(skb) -> ip6_pol_route(,skb,flags) [RT6_LOOKUP_F_DST_NOREF in flags] -> FIB lookup resolves fib6_nh [nhid=N route] -> rt6_make_pcpu_route() [creates pcpu_rt, refcount=1] pcpu_rt->sernum = fib6_sernum [fib6_sernum=W] -> cmpxchg(fib6_nh.rt6i_pcpu, NULL, pcpu_rt) [slot was empty, store succeeds] -> skb_dst_set_noref(skb, dst) [dst is pcpu_rt, refcount still 1] rt_genid_bump_ipv6() -> bumps fib6_sernum [fib6_sernum from W to Z] ip6_route_output() -> ip6_pol_route() -> FIB lookup resolves fib6_nh [nhid=N] -> rt6_get_pcpu_route() pcpu_rt->sernum != fib6_sernum [W <> Z, stale] -> prev = xchg(rt6i_pcpu, NULL) -> dst_release(prev) [prev is pcpu_rt, refcount 1->0, dead] dst = skb_dst(skb) [dst is the dead pcpu_rt] dst_cache_set_ip6(dst) -> dst_hold() on dead dst -> WARN / use-after-free For the race to occur, ksoftirqd must be preemptible (PREEMPT_RT without PREEMPT_RT_NEEDS_BH_LOCK) and a concurrent task must be able to release the pcpu_rt. Shared nexthop objects provide such a path, as two routes pointing to the same nhid share the same fib6_nh and its rt6i_pcpu entry. Fix seg6_input_core() and rpl_input() by calling skb_dst_force() after ip6_route_input() to force the NOREF dst into a refcounted one before caching. The output path is not affected as ip6_route_output() already returns a refcounted dst.

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv6 networking implementation, specifically within the `seg6` and `rpl` lwtunnels. A race condition can occur when handling destination cache entries, where a `NOREF` (no reference) destination object is used after it has been freed. This use-after-free vulnerability can lead to system instability or a denial of service (DoS) on systems configured with `PREEMPT_RT` (Preemptible Real-Time) kernel.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 Affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Not affected kernel-rt Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Affected kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Affected kernel-rt https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-46099 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-46099 https://lore.kernel.org/linux-cve-announce/2026052704-CVE-2026-46099-2a55@gregkh/T