CVE-2026-98497
Description
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's mlx5 network driver. When configuring IPv6 IPsec (Internet Protocol Security) rules with differing source and destination prefix lengths, the driver inadvertently swaps the source and destination address masks installed into hardware flow tables. This incorrect rule configuration can allow an attacker to bypass IPsec security policies or cause traffic to be misclassified, potentially leading to unauthorized data transmission or network disruption.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as having Moderate impact because exploitation requires specific Mellanox network hardware with hardware IPsec offload actively enabled alongside asymmetric IPv6 policy prefix configurations. In typical Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployments, IPsec cryptographic operations and policy evaluations are processed in software by default, limiting exposure to systems where hardware acceleration is deliberately provisioned on supported devices. Under vulnerable conditions, network traffic could bypass filtering rules or experience classification failures, but the blast radius is confined strictly to hardware-accelerated flows utilizing asymmetrical subnet definitions.
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 | 5.6 | N/A | 7.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | High | N/A | High |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | Low | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | Low | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Other
Technical Impact: Varies by Context
This can lead to incorrect results and resultant weaknesses. For example, the code might inadvertently compare references to objects, instead of the relevant contents of those objects, causing two "equal" objects to be considered unequal.
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