CVE-2026-97597: Linux

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: flowlabel: cap duplicate leases per socket ipv6_flowlabel_get() allocates an ipv6_fl_socklist entry for every successful GET. The recheck path for a compatible existing flowlabel links another lease without applying any lease admission check. Repeated GET requests for one shareable label can therefore grow a socket's lease list without bound. Reject a new unprivileged lease once the socket already holds FL_MAX_PER_SOCK leases. Check this on the shared recheck path so reuse of a globally interned label, including the fl_intern() collision path, is covered as well. New-label admission remains under the existing mem_check() policy. Use capable(CAP_NET_ADMIN) rather than ns_capable(), matching mem_check(). An unprivileged user must not bypass the cap by creating a user namespace and a netns where they have CAP_NET_ADMIN, which would still consume host memory. Check the capability only when the socket reaches the limit, so successful unprivileged GET requests below the cap do not generate a capability audit. Do the admission check before updating linger and expires so a rejected GET does not refresh the shared label, matching the existing socket-list allocation failure path.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 2.6.12, before 6.12.112 (fixed in 6.12.112); from 6.13, before 6.18.53 (fixed in 6.18.53); from 6.19, before 7.2.7 (fixed in 7.2.7)

Published 2026-09-25. Last modified 2026-10-03.