Linux Kernel up to 6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5 ipv6 inet6_addr_del use after free

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5. This issue affects the function inet6_addr_del of the component ipv6. Performing a manipulation results in use after free. This vulnerability is cataloged as CVE-2026-23010. There is no exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.66/6.18.6/6.19-rc5. This affects the function inet6_addr_del of the component ipv6. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a use after free vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-416. Referencing memory after it has been freed can cause a program to crash, use unexpected values, or execute code. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ipv6: Fix use-after-free in inet6_addr_del(). syzbot reported use-after-free of inet6_ifaddr in inet6_addr_del(). [0] The cited commit accidentally moved ipv6_del_addr() for mngtmpaddr before reading its ifp->flags for temporary addresses in inet6_addr_del(). Let's move ipv6_del_addr() down to fix the UAF. [0]: BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in inet6_addr_del.constprop.0+0x67a/0x6b0 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3117 Read of size 4 at addr ffff88807b89c86c by task syz.3.1618/9593 CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 9593 Comm: syz.3.1618 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/25/2025 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0x116/0x1f0 lib/dump_stack.c:120 print_address_description mm/kasan/report.c:378 [inline] print_report+0xcd/0x630 mm/kasan/report.c:482 kasan_report+0xe0/0x110 mm/kasan/report.c:595 inet6_addr_del.constprop.0+0x67a/0x6b0 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3117 addrconf_del_ifaddr+0x11e/0x190 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3181 inet6_ioctl+0x1e5/0x2b0 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c:582 sock_do_ioctl+0x118/0x280 net/socket.c:1254 sock_ioctl+0x227/0x6b0 net/socket.c:1375 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f RIP: 0033:0x7f164cf8f749 Code: ff ff c3 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f 1f 40 00 48 89 f8 48 89 f7 48 89 d6 48 89 ca 4d 89 c2 4d 89 c8 4c 8b 4c 24 08 0f 05 <48> 3d 01 f0 ff ff 73 01 c3 48 c7 c1 a8 ff ff ff f7 d8 64 89 01 48 RSP: 002b:00007f164de64038 EFLAGS: 00000246 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000010 RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 00007f164d1e5fa0 RCX: 00007f164cf8f749 RDX: 0000200000000000 RSI: 0000000000008936 RDI: 0000000000000003 RBP: 00007f164d013f91 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: 0000000000000246 R12: 0000000000000000 R13: 00007f164d1e6038 R14: 00007f164d1e5fa0 R15: 00007ffde15c8288 </TASK> Allocated by task 9593: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:77 poison_kmalloc_redzone mm/kasan/common.c:397 [inline] __kasan_kmalloc+0xaa/0xb0 mm/kasan/common.c:414 kmalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:957 [inline] kzalloc_noprof include/linux/slab.h:1094 [inline] ipv6_add_addr+0x4e3/0x2010 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:1120 inet6_addr_add+0x256/0x9b0 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3050 addrconf_add_ifaddr+0x1fc/0x450 net/ipv6/addrconf.c:3160 inet6_ioctl+0x103/0x2b0 net/ipv6/af_inet6.c:580 sock_do_ioctl+0x118/0x280 net/socket.c:1254 sock_ioctl+0x227/0x6b0 net/socket.c:1375 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:597 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:583 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18e/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:583 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xcd/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Freed by task 6099: kasan_save_stack+0x33/0x60 mm/kasan/common.c:56 kasan_save_track+0x14/0x30 mm/kasan/common.c:77 kasan_save_free_info+0x3b/0x60 mm/kasan/generic.c:584 poison_slab_object mm/kasan/common.c:252 [inline] __kasan_slab_free+0x5f/0x80 mm/kasan/common.c:284 kasan_slab_free include/linux/kasan.h:234 [inline] slab_free_hook mm/slub.c:2540 [inline] slab_free_freelist_hook mm/slub.c:2569 [inline] slab_free_bulk mm/slub.c:6696 [inline] kmem_cache_free_bulk mm/slub.c:7383 [inline] kmem_cache_free_bulk+0x2bf/0x680 mm/slub.c:7362 kfree_bulk include/linux/slab.h:830 [inline] kvfree_rcu_bulk+0x1b7/0x1e0 mm/slab_common.c:1523 kvfree_rcu_drain_ready mm/slab_common.c:1728 [inline] kfree_rcu_monitor+0x1d0/0x2f0 mm/slab_common.c:1801 process_one_work+0x9ba/0x1b20 kernel/workqueue.c:3257 process_scheduled_works kernel/workqu ---truncated---

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-23010 since 01/13/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 03/27/2026).

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 296539 (Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-23010), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 6.12.67, 6.18.7 or 6.19-rc6 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2684610a9c9c53f262fd864fa5c407e79f304804/8b6dcb565e419846bd521e31d5e1f98e4d0e1179/ddf96c393a33aef4887e2e406c76c2f8cda1419c is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at git.kernel.org. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (296539), EUVD (EUVD-2026-4626) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0215). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Debian Linux
• Amazon Linux 2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Ubuntu Linux
• SUSE Linux
• Oracle Linux
• SUSE openSUSE
• RESF Rocky Linux
• Open Source Linux Kernel

Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
• 6.12.6
• 6.12.7
• 6.12.8
• 6.12.9
• 6.12.10
• 6.12.11
• 6.12.12
• 6.12.13
• 6.12.14
• 6.12.15
• 6.12.16
• 6.12.17
• 6.12.18
• 6.12.19
• 6.12.20
• 6.12.21
• 6.12.22
• 6.12.23
• 6.12.24
• 6.12.25
• 6.12.26
• 6.12.27
• 6.12.28
• 6.12.29
• 6.12.30
• 6.12.31
• 6.12.32
• 6.12.33
• 6.12.34
• 6.12.35
• 6.12.36
• 6.12.37
• 6.12.38
• 6.12.39
• 6.12.40
• 6.12.41
• 6.12.42
• 6.12.43
• 6.12.44
• 6.12.45
• 6.12.46
• 6.12.47
• 6.12.48
• 6.12.49
• 6.12.50
• 6.12.51
• 6.12.52
• 6.12.53
• 6.12.54
• 6.12.55
• 6.12.56
• 6.12.57
• 6.12.58
• 6.12.59
• 6.12.60
• 6.12.61
• 6.12.62
• 6.12.63
• 6.12.64
• 6.12.65
• 6.12.66
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.19-rc1
• 6.19-rc2
• 6.19-rc3
• 6.19-rc4
• 6.19-rc5

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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Exploitinginfo

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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