Linux Kernel up to 6.6.144/6.12.96/6.18.39/7.1.4 Thunderbolt tbnet_poll frame_count memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.5	$5k-$25k	0.00+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.144/6.12.96/6.18.39/7.1.4 and classified as very critical. This affects the function tbnet_poll of the component Thunderbolt. Such manipulation of the argument frame_count leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-72157. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.6.144/6.12.96/6.18.39/7.1.4. It has been rated as very critical. Affected by this issue is the function tbnet_poll of the component Thunderbolt. The manipulation of the argument frame_count with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: thunderbolt: Fix frags[] overflow by bounding frame_count tbnet_poll() assembles a multi-frame ThunderboltIP packet into one skb. The first frame goes into the skb linear area and every further frame is added as a page fragment. skb_add_rx_frag(skb, skb_shinfo(skb)->nr_frags, page, hdr_size, frame_size, TBNET_RX_PAGE_SIZE - hdr_size); A packet of frame_count frames therefore ends up with frame_count - 1 fragments. tbnet_check_frame() only bounds the peer supplied frame_count to TBNET_RING_SIZE / 4 (64), which is far above MAX_SKB_FRAGS (17 by default). A peer that sends a packet of 19 or more small frames pushes nr_frags past MAX_SKB_FRAGS, so skb_add_rx_frag() writes past skb_shinfo()->frags[] and corrupts memory after the shared info. Tighten the start of packet bound to MAX_SKB_FRAGS + 1 so a packet can never produce more fragments than frags[] can hold. This matches the recent skb frags overflow fixes in other receive paths, for example f0813bcd2d9d ("net: wwan: t7xx: fix potential skb->frags overflow in RX path") and 600dc40554dc ("net: usb: cdc-phonet: fix skb frags[] overflow in rx_complete()").

The advisory is available at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-72157 since 08/09/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/15/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.6.145, 6.12.97, 6.18.40, 7.1.5 or 7.2-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 2b3b4e5ff5a58ad32817824b0310e63908b12052/e27beb4536cbf1d59e2d8c2840e87d972aba906f/e5824d5b841d99a2bcdd4e2c256643293bbc22c1/fe6b606fbf0c3beb94ccf17fcf31d8c2138264e3/55d9895f89970501fe126d1026b586b04a224c27 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.6.144
• 6.12.0
• 6.12.1
• 6.12.2
• 6.12.3
• 6.12.4
• 6.12.5
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• 6.12.90
• 6.12.91
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• 6.12.94
• 6.12.95
• 6.12.96
• 6.18.0
• 6.18.1
• 6.18.2
• 6.18.3
• 6.18.4
• 6.18.5
• 6.18.6
• 6.18.7
• 6.18.8
• 6.18.9
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• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 7.1.0
• 7.1.1
• 7.1.2
• 7.1.3
• 7.1.4

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

• 🔒
• 🔒
• 🔒

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 9.9
VulDB Temp Score: 9.5
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: Kernel 6.6.145/6.12.97/6.18.40/7.1.5/7.2-rc1
Patch: 2b3b4e5ff5a58ad32817824b0310e63908b12052/e27beb4536cbf1d59e2d8c2840e87d972aba906f/e5824d5b841d99a2bcdd4e2c256643293bbc22c1/fe6b606fbf0c3beb94ccf17fcf31d8c2138264e3/55d9895f89970501fe126d1026b586b04a224c27

Timelineinfo

08/09/2026 CVE reserved
08/15/2026 +6 days Advisory disclosed
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/15/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-72157 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-72157
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-390590

Entryinfo

Created: 08/15/2026 13:06
Changes: 08/15/2026 13:06 (60)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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Discussion

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