CVE-2026-98303

Description

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IPv4 networking subsystem. When looking up routes to send Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) error messages, the kernel fails to properly reject unreachable input routes. A remote attacker can exploit this flaw by transmitting network packets that trigger ICMP responses to unreachable destinations, causing the system to invoke an invalid route handler and trigger a kernel warning, potentially leading to a Denial of Service (DoS).

Statement

A flaw in the Linux kernel's IPv4 ICMP error-message routing is rated Moderate by Red Hat Product Security and affects the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8, 9, and 10 kernels (including kernel-rt), Red Hat In-Vehicle OS 2, and the RHEL CoreOS layers of OpenShift Container Platform 4 and 5. When the kernel generates an ICMP error response and the forward output route cannot be used, icmp_route_lookup() falls back to a reverse-path lookup that calls ip_route_input() on the original packet's source address. For unreachable source addresses, this lookup can succeed and return an RTN_UNREACHABLE input route whose output callback is ip_rt_bug(); because the existing check only rejected RTN_LOCAL routes, the invalid route can be used for output, triggering a WARN_ON_ONCE() in ip_rt_bug() and dropping the outgoing ICMP response. An attacker who can transmit crafted IPv4 packets that cause the kernel to generate ICMP error replies toward unreachable destinations can trigger this condition and cause a denial of service: under default configurations the effect is a kernel warning and a dropped packet, while systems configured with panic_on_warn can panic. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is out of support (OOSS) and will not receive a fix. For all affected streams the fix is deferred to a future update; the residual risk is limited to availability, with no impact on confidentiality or integrity. The Red Hat severity (Moderate, CVSS 3.1 score 5.5, local attack vector) reflects that the publicly demonstrated reproducer requires local privileges to set up the triggering configuration, although a remotely transmitted trigger remains plausible.

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 HatNVDcve.org
Base Score5.5N/AN/A
Attack VectorLocalN/AN/A
Attack ComplexityLowN/AN/A
Privileges RequiredLowN/AN/A
User InteractionNoneN/AN/A
ScopeUnchangedN/AN/A
ConfidentialityNoneN/AN/A
Integrity ImpactNoneN/AN/A
Availability ImpactHighN/AN/A

Vector

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

Understanding the Weakness (CWE)

Availability

Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart

An attacker that can trigger an assert statement can still lead to a denial of service if the relevant code can be triggered by an attacker, and if the scope of the assert() extends beyond the attacker's own session.

Frequently Asked Questions

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