CVE-2026-97601
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) networking subsystem, which can lead to a Denial of Service (DoS). When a network device changes its link type without properly initializing internal data pointers, the kernel fails to validate the pointer during link creation requests. A local user could exploit this vulnerability to trigger a NULL pointer dereference, causing a kernel crash and system outage.
Statement
A low impact flaw was found in the Linux kernel's 6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks) networking subsystem. The TUNSETLINK ioctl permits a TUN device to change its link-layer type to ARPHRD_IEEE802154 without initializing the ieee802154_ptr pointer, and lowpan_newlink() checks only the device type before dereferencing that pointer. As a result, a local user can trigger a NULL pointer dereference via an RTM_NEWLINK request, causing a kernel crash and denial of service. The kernel and kernel-rt packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and 9, and the RHEL CoreOS kernels shipped with OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5, are affected; fixes for these streams are currently deferred, and given the low impact rating the residual risk is limited to local denial of service. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7, and 10, and Red Hat In-Vehicle OS are not affected because the vulnerable code is not present in those products.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
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 Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
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