VYPR
Medium severity5.5NVD Advisory· Published Mar 25, 2026· Updated Jul 14, 2026

CVE-2026-23300

CVE-2026-23300

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

net: ipv6: fix panic when IPv4 route references loopback IPv6 nexthop

When a standalone IPv6 nexthop object is created with a loopback device (e.g., "ip -6 nexthop add id 100 dev lo"), fib6_nh_init() misclassifies it as a reject route. This is because nexthop objects have no destination prefix (fc_dst=::), causing fib6_is_reject() to match any loopback nexthop. The reject path skips fib_nh_common_init(), leaving nhc_pcpu_rth_output unallocated. If an IPv4 route later references this nexthop, __mkroute_output() dereferences NULL nhc_pcpu_rth_output and panics.

Simplify the check in fib6_nh_init() to only match explicit reject routes (RTF_REJECT) instead of using fib6_is_reject(). The loopback promotion heuristic in fib6_is_reject() is handled separately by ip6_route_info_create_nh(). After this change, the three cases behave as follows:

1. Explicit reject route ("ip -6 route add unreachable 2001:db8::/64"): RTF_REJECT is set, enters reject path, skips fib_nh_common_init(). No behavior change.

2. Implicit loopback reject route ("ip -6 route add 2001:db8::/32 dev lo"): RTF_REJECT is not set, takes normal path, fib_nh_common_init() is called. ip6_route_info_create_nh() still promotes it to reject afterward. nhc_pcpu_rth_output is allocated but unused, which is harmless.

3. Standalone nexthop object ("ip -6 nexthop add id 100 dev lo"): RTF_REJECT is not set, takes normal path, fib_nh_common_init() is called. nhc_pcpu_rth_output is properly allocated, fixing the crash when IPv4 routes reference this nexthop.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

Affected products

5
  • Linux/Kernelllm-fuzzy4 versions
    (expand)+ 3 more
    • (no CPE)
    • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*range: >=5.3,<5.10.253
    • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
    • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
  • osv-coords
    Range: >= 5.3.0, < 5.10.253

Patches

Vulnerability mechanics

References

10

News mentions

1