CVE-2026-46172

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) xfrm6 component. When processing encapsulated IPv6 packets, the xfrm6_rcv_encap() function fails to release a destination (dst) entry reference if an IPv6 route lookup results in an error. A remote attacker could exploit this by sending repeated malformed IPv6 packets, leading to a continuous leak of dst entries and eventually causing a Denial of Service (DoS) due to resource exhaustion.

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details

Info alert:Important note

CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).

The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.

CVSS v3 Score Breakdown

Red HatNVDcve.org
Base Score75.5N/A
Attack VectorLocalLocalN/A
Attack ComplexityHighLowN/A
Privileges RequiredLowLowN/A
User InteractionNoneNoneN/A
ScopeUnchangedUnchangedN/A
ConfidentialityHighNoneN/A
Integrity ImpactHighNoneN/A
Availability ImpactHighHighN/A

Vector

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

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

CWE-772

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (Other); DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory); DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)

An attacker that can influence the allocation of resources that are not properly released could deplete the available resource pool and prevent all other processes from accessing the same type of resource. Frequently-affected resources include memory, CPU, disk space, power or battery, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

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