Security Resilience

CVE-2026-43329

Memory Safety in Linux Kernel 5.5 – 5.15.203

Published
08 May 2026
Modified
19 October 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0018 7th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). EPSS scores by FIRST (EPSS SIG), generated by Empirical Security. Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-43329 is a high-severity Heap-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-122) vulnerability in Linux Kernel. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 7th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-10 (Concurrent Session Control) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: netfilter: flowtable: strictly check for maximum number of actions The maximum number of flowtable hardware offload actions in IPv6 is: * ethernet mangling (4 payload actions, 2 for each ethernet…

more

address) * SNAT (4 payload actions) * DNAT (4 payload actions) * Double VLAN (4 vlan actions, 2 for popping vlan, and 2 for pushing) for QinQ. * Redirect (1 action) Which makes 17, while the maximum is 16. But act_ct supports for tunnels actions too. Note that payload action operates at 32-bit word level, so mangling an IPv6 address takes 4 payload actions. Update flow_action_entry_next() calls to check for the maximum number of supported actions. While at it, rise the maximum number of actions per flow from 16 to 24 so this works fine with IPv6 setups.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

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CVE-2024-42241Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-39472Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-43856Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-26710Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2024-39478Same product: Linux Linux Kernel
CVE-2025-21690Same product: Linux Linux Kernel

Affected Assets

linux
linux kernel
7.0 · 5.5 — 5.15.203 · 5.16 — 6.1.168 · 6.2 — 6.6.134

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Directly enforces a hard limit on concurrent sessions, structurally preventing unbounded resource allocation.

Requires explicit allocation of resources by priority or quota, directly stopping unlimited allocation.

Imposes a limit on consecutive invalid attempts, preventing one specific class of unbounded resource consumption.

Reduces impact of resulting DoS events without preventing the underlying lack of allocation limits.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 full match
blocks

Secure-development practices directly require bounds checking and safe memory handling that prevent heap overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
blocks

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover heap-overflow flaws but does not prevent their introduction in code.

PR.IR-04 partial match
blocks

Monitoring capacity and taking action to maintain availability directly reduces unchecked resource allocation.

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Timely patching removes known heap-overflow instances after they exist.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Baseline comparison of CPU, memory and bandwidth usage helps surface uncontrolled resource allocations before they cause service degradation.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance can detect heap overflows before release.

blocks

A.8.6's monitoring, stress-testing, projections, resource utilization tracking, and explicit demand-reduction steps (e.g. optimizing queries, denying non-critical bandwidth, decommissioning) directly stop uncontrolled allocation from being exploited in most cases; the bounded remainder is resources whose limits live only in code that the capacity plan does not rewrite.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe techniques (safe functions, bounds checks) that prevent heap-based buffer overflows.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248552 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. blocks CWE-770
  • V-248553 OL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. blocks CWE-770
Oracle Linux 9 (2 rules)
  • V-271710 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic are terminated after 10 minutes of becoming unresponsive. blocks CWE-770
  • V-271709 OL 9 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. blocks CWE-770
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230244 RHEL 8 must be configured so that all network connections associated with SSH traffic terminate after becoming unresponsive. blocks CWE-770

References