Host crash via unbounded IPv6 flow-label leases
Published Sep 25, 2026 · Updated Sep 25, 2026
Resource exhaustion in Linux allows local users to crash the host by repeatedly leasing one shareable IPv6 flow label through a socket. In ipv6_flowlabel_get(), the compatible-label recheck path links a new ipv6_fl_socklist lease without applying the per-socket admission limit. An unprivileged local process can repeat IPV6_FLOWLABEL_MGR GET requests until kernel memory is exhausted, causing an out-of-memory crash or reboot.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Linux allows local users to crash the host by repeatedly leasing one shareable IPv6 flow label through a socket. In ipv6_flowlabel_get(), the compatible-label recheck path links a new ipv6_fl_socklist lease without applying the per-socket admission limit. An unprivileged local process can repeat IPV6_FLOWLABEL_MGR GET requests until kernel memory is exhausted, causing an out-of-memory crash or reboot.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-97597
- Published
- Sep 25, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 25, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 25, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 25, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <2f1a6dd5c80ceb902f50449efe899f29cd7918e3
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <467467bf4209f9f8add0c648bae763f92a0224c3
- Affected versionversion=1da177e4c3f41524e886b7f1b8a0c1fc7321cac2 <8d6cd188508513503805c156165de38e4e4a8615
- Affected versionversion=2.6.12
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- IPv6 duplicate flow-label lease reproducerproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Get started to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Get started