CVE-2026-23003
Published: 25 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-23003 is a high-severity Use of Uninitialized Resource (CWE-908) vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 7.5th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 CM-7 (Least Functionality) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-23003 is a use of uninitialized resource vulnerability (CWE-908) in the Linux kernel's IPv6 tunneling code, specifically within the __ip6_tnl_rcv() function in net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c. The issue stems from a prior commit that failed to properly handle VLAN encapsulations during packet processing, leading to uninitialized memory being accessed during Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) decapsulation (IP6_ECN_decapsulate). This was detected by KMSAN via syzkaller fuzzing, manifesting as an uninit-value error in the inet_ecn.h handling path, triggered during GRE-over-IPv6 tunnel reception.
An unprivileged remote attacker can exploit this by sending crafted IPv6 packets to a vulnerable system configured for IPv6 tunneling (e.g., ip6gre), potentially via network input or TUN device writes that reach the ip6_tnl_rcv path. Successful exploitation causes a kernel crash due to the uninitialized memory access, resulting in a denial-of-service (DoS). The CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H) reflects high severity from network accessibility with low complexity and no privileges required.
Mitigation requires updating to a patched Linux kernel version incorporating the upstream fixes. The referenced stable kernel commits replace pskb_inet_may_pull() with skb_vlan_inet_prepare() in __ip6_tnl_rcv() to correctly handle VLAN headers and prevent uninitialized access: 2f03dafea0a8, 64c71d60a21a, 81c734dae203, 9e1c8c2a33d0, and b9f915340f25. Security practitioners should prioritize kernels with these backports, especially on systems using IPv6 tunnels.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-4621
Vulnerability details
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ip6_tunnel: use skb_vlan_inet_prepare() in __ip6_tnl_rcv() Blamed commit did not take care of VLAN encapsulations as spotted by syzbot [1]. Use skb_vlan_inet_prepare() instead of pskb_inet_may_pull(). [1] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in __INET_ECN_decapsulate…
more
include/net/inet_ecn.h:253 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in INET_ECN_decapsulate include/net/inet_ecn.h:275 [inline] BUG: KMSAN: uninit-value in IP6_ECN_decapsulate+0x7a8/0x1fa0 include/net/inet_ecn.h:321 __INET_ECN_decapsulate include/net/inet_ecn.h:253 [inline] INET_ECN_decapsulate include/net/inet_ecn.h:275 [inline] IP6_ECN_decapsulate+0x7a8/0x1fa0 include/net/inet_ecn.h:321 ip6ip6_dscp_ecn_decapsulate+0x16f/0x1b0 net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c:729 __ip6_tnl_rcv+0xed9/0x1b50 net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c:860 ip6_tnl_rcv+0xc3/0x100 net/ipv6/ip6_tunnel.c:903 gre_rcv+0x1529/0x1b90 net/ipv6/ip6_gre.c:-1 ip6_protocol_deliver_rcu+0x1c89/0x2c60 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:438 ip6_input_finish+0x1f4/0x4a0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:489 NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:318 [inline] ip6_input+0x9c/0x330 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:500 ip6_mc_input+0x7ca/0xc10 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:590 dst_input include/net/dst.h:474 [inline] ip6_rcv_finish+0x958/0x990 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:79 NF_HOOK include/linux/netfilter.h:318 [inline] ipv6_rcv+0xf1/0x3c0 net/ipv6/ip6_input.c:311 __netif_receive_skb_one_core net/core/dev.c:6139 [inline] __netif_receive_skb+0x1df/0xac0 net/core/dev.c:6252 netif_receive_skb_internal net/core/dev.c:6338 [inline] netif_receive_skb+0x57/0x630 net/core/dev.c:6397 tun_rx_batched+0x1df/0x980 drivers/net/tun.c:1485 tun_get_user+0x5c0e/0x6c60 drivers/net/tun.c:1953 tun_chr_write_iter+0x3e9/0x5c0 drivers/net/tun.c:1999 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline] vfs_write+0xbe2/0x15d0 fs/read_write.c:686 ksys_write fs/read_write.c:738 [inline] __do_sys_write fs/read_write.c:749 [inline] __se_sys_write fs/read_write.c:746 [inline] __x64_sys_write+0x1fb/0x4d0 fs/read_write.c:746 x64_sys_call+0x30ab/0x3e70 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:2 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xd3/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Uninit was created at: slab_post_alloc_hook mm/slub.c:4960 [inline] slab_alloc_node mm/slub.c:5263 [inline] kmem_cache_alloc_node_noprof+0x9e7/0x17a0 mm/slub.c:5315 kmalloc_reserve+0x13c/0x4b0 net/core/skbuff.c:586 __alloc_skb+0x805/0x1040 net/core/skbuff.c:690 alloc_skb include/linux/skbuff.h:1383 [inline] alloc_skb_with_frags+0xc5/0xa60 net/core/skbuff.c:6712 sock_alloc_send_pskb+0xacc/0xc60 net/core/sock.c:2995 tun_alloc_skb drivers/net/tun.c:1461 [inline] tun_get_user+0x1142/0x6c60 drivers/net/tun.c:1794 tun_chr_write_iter+0x3e9/0x5c0 drivers/net/tun.c:1999 new_sync_write fs/read_write.c:593 [inline] vfs_write+0xbe2/0x15d0 fs/read_write.c:686 ksys_write fs/read_write.c:738 [inline] __do_sys_write fs/read_write.c:749 [inline] __se_sys_write fs/read_write.c:746 [inline] __x64_sys_write+0x1fb/0x4d0 fs/read_write.c:746 x64_sys_call+0x30ab/0x3e70 arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_64.h:2 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:63 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xd3/0xf80 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:94 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 6465 Comm: syz.0.17 Not tainted syzkaller #0 PREEMPT(none) Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 10/25/2025
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Remote exploitation of the uninitialized memory flaw in IPv6 tunnel processing directly triggers kernel crash/DoS, matching T1499.004 (Application or System Exploitation).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Flaw remediation requires timely patching of the Linux kernel to fix the uninitialized memory access in __ip6_tnl_rcv() during VLAN-encapsulated IPv6 tunnel processing.
Least functionality prohibits or disables non-essential IPv6 tunneling features like ip6gre, preventing exposure to the vulnerable code path.
Boundary protection monitors and filters inbound IPv6 GRE tunnel traffic to block crafted packets targeting the ECN decapsulation flaw before kernel processing.