CVE-2026-98096: Linux

High severity, CVSS 7.4. EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: sr: restore network header before routing and forwarding ipv6_srh_rcv() runs with skb->data at the Segment Routing Header (SRH) while skb_network_header() points at the IPv6 header. When segments_left > 0, ipv6_srh_rcv() previously restored the skb->data position by pushing sizeof(struct ipv6hdr), assuming the SRH immediately followed the fixed IPv6 header. If another extension header (such as a Hop-by-Hop options header) precedes the SRH, skb_network_offset() remained negative. This led to two problems: 1. During ip6_route_input(), fib6_rules_early_flow_dissect() invokes __skb_flow_dissect() which passes the negative skb_network_offset() to flow dissection, breaking BPF and C flow dissector logic. 2. If forwarded via ip6_forward() or redirected via act_mirred, downstream handlers (like sch_fragment() or neighbour output) pass the negative offset as an unsigned length, triggering OOB memcpy or buffer overflows. Fix this by pushing -skb_network_offset(skb) before routing, ensuring skb_network_offset(skb) is 0 for route lookup / flow dissection as well as downstream forwarding. On the loopback path, pull skb_transport_offset(skb) to restore skb->data to the SRH before looping back.

Affected products

• Linux Linux: from 4.10, before 5.10.271 (fixed in 5.10.271); from 5.11, before 5.15.222 (fixed in 5.15.222); from 5.16, before 6.1.189 (fixed in 6.1.189); from 6.2, before 6.6.158 (fixed in 6.6.158); from 6.7, before 6.12.111 (fixed in 6.12.111); from 6.13, before 6.18.53 (fixed in 6.18.53); …

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