Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1 Network Packet Scheduling net/core/dev.c qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init transport_header out-of-bounds

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	$0-$5k	1.06+

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability categorized as very critical has been discovered in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1. This vulnerability affects the function qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init of the file net/core/dev.c of the component Network Packet Scheduling. Such manipulation of the argument transport_header leads to out-of-bounds. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-98401. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Linux Kernel up to 6.12.110/6.18.52/7.2.6/7.3-rc1. It has been rated as very critical. Affected by this issue is the function qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init of the file net/core/dev.c of the component Network Packet Scheduling. The manipulation of the argument transport_header with an unknown input leads to a out-of-bounds vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-125. The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: net: iptunnel: fix stale transport header during tunnel decapsulation Syzbot reported a crash in qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init() caused by a stale transport_header offset after tunnel decapsulation. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffed102091a42e Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 340 Comm: qdisc_uaf_repro Not tainted 7.2.0-rc4-00061-g248951ddc14d #256 PREEMPT(full) Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 1.16.3-debian-1.16.3-2 04/01/2014 RIP: 0010:__asan_load2 <IRQ> qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init (net/core/dev.c:4145) __dev_queue_xmit (net/core/dev.c:4787) br_dev_queue_push_xmit (net/bridge/br_forward.c:53) br_handle_frame_finish (net/bridge/br_input.c:229) br_handle_frame (net/bridge/br_input.c:315) __netif_receive_skb_core.constprop.0 (net/core/dev.c:6099) __netif_receive_skb_list_core (net/core/dev.c:6287) netif_receive_skb_list_internal (net/core/dev.c:6445) napi_complete_done (net/core/dev.c:6813) gro_cell_poll (net/core/gro_cells.c:74) __napi_poll (net/core/dev.c:7735) net_rx_action (net/core/dev.c:7798 net/core/dev.c:7955) handle_softirqs (kernel/softirq.c:622) do_softirq (kernel/softirq.c:523 kernel/softirq.c:510 ) __local_bh_enable_ip (kernel/softirq.c:450) tun_get_user (drivers/net/tun.c:1986 (discriminator 1)) tun_chr_write_iter (drivers/net/tun.c:2032) The issue is completely latent until qdisc read transport header in commit 7fb4c1967011 ("net: pull headers in qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init()"). The crash requires four conditions to line up: 1. The incoming packet is encapsulated and carries GSO metadata. The outer transport header offset is stored in skb->transport_header while the packet is still in the outer tunnel context. 2. The tunnel receiver strips the outer headers. skb->data is advanced to the inner frame, but skb->transport_header is left pointing to the now-removed outer L4 header, so it becomes a negative offset relative to the new data. 3. The inner frame is not delivered to the local IP stack. Instead, it is forwarded at L2 by a bridge or HSR, so ip_rcv_core() never runs and the transport header is not reset to the inner L4 offset. 4. The forwarding path calls __dev_queue_xmit(), which enters qdisc_pkt_len_segs_init(). That function computes the GSO header length from skb_transport_offset(skb). Because the offset is negative, the unsigned cast overflows and pskb_may_pull(skb, hdr_len + sizeof(struct tcphdr)) reads past the end of the skb, triggering a KASAN fault or page fault. The issue specifically requires GSO packets (shinfo->gso_size != 0), which are processed/aggregated through gro_cells. Fix this by clearing transport_header to the ~0U sentinel in gro_cell for all tunnnel driver. GTP does not support GRO/GSO, drop the evil GSO packets in GTP directly.

The advisory is shared for download at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-98401 since 09/25/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are known technical details, but no exploit is available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 10/14/2026).

Upgrading to version 6.12.111, 6.18.53, 7.2.7 or 7.3-rc2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 8c3d4dfcecf7670c1d752f1ae74b21b2af5feac1/e4a5b01e59f7102169762b8f566c8e052d05c0ff/3340b8565b85631cfeb0df049e8b46e3ef8bd7bd/28a57fb2c5df4deb42a06e52fd36c14b37aa0034 is able to eliminate this problem. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 6.12.110
• 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
• 6.18.10
• 6.18.11
• 6.18.12
• 6.18.13
• 6.18.14
• 6.18.15
• 6.18.16
• 6.18.17
• 6.18.18
• 6.18.19
• 6.18.20
• 6.18.21
• 6.18.22
• 6.18.23
• 6.18.24
• 6.18.25
• 6.18.26
• 6.18.27
• 6.18.28
• 6.18.29
• 6.18.30
• 6.18.31
• 6.18.32
• 6.18.33
• 6.18.34
• 6.18.35
• 6.18.36
• 6.18.37
• 6.18.38
• 6.18.39
• 6.18.40
• 6.18.41
• 6.18.42
• 6.18.43
• 6.18.44
• 6.18.45
• 6.18.46
• 6.18.47
• 6.18.48
• 6.18.49
• 6.18.50
• 6.18.51
• 6.18.52
• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2
• 7.2.3
• 7.2.4
• 7.2.5
• 7.2.6
• 7.3-rc1

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: 10.0
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.5

VulDB Base Score: 10.0
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: Out-of-bounds
CWE: CWE-125 / 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 6.12.111/6.18.53/7.2.7/7.3-rc2
Patch: 8c3d4dfcecf7670c1d752f1ae74b21b2af5feac1/e4a5b01e59f7102169762b8f566c8e052d05c0ff/3340b8565b85631cfeb0df049e8b46e3ef8bd7bd/28a57fb2c5df4deb42a06e52fd36c14b37aa0034

Timelineinfo

09/25/2026 CVE reserved
10/14/2026 +19 days Advisory disclosed
10/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
10/14/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: kernel.org

Advisory: git.kernel.org
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-98401 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-98401
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-419840

Entryinfo

Created: 10/14/2026 15:51
Changes: 10/14/2026 15:51 (61)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

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