Kernel crash via stale packet-header offsets
Published Oct 6, 2026 · Updated Oct 6, 2026
Denial of service in Linux kernel skbuff code allows context-dependent attackers to crash the kernel via RDS-over-TCP packet handling. The pskb_carve helpers remove packet bytes but leave header offsets pointing beyond the new buffer's initialized data, causing drop_monitor to pull from a bogus MAC header. The observed crash requires an RDS-over-TCP receive path and drop-monitor processing of the discarded buffer; a network-only trigger is not established.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Linux kernel skbuff code allows context-dependent attackers to crash the kernel via RDS-over-TCP packet handling. The pskb_carve helpers remove packet bytes but leave header offsets pointing beyond the new buffer's initialized data, causing drop_monitor to pull from a bogus MAC header. The observed crash requires an RDS-over-TCP receive path and drop-monitor processing of the discarded buffer; a network-only trigger is not established.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-98271
- Published
- Oct 6, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 6, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- Unavailable
- Privileges
- Unavailable
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 6, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 6, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=4.7
- Affected versionversion=6fa01ccd883021105e9f8af7d04b9f156fa3494a <12929ed66a5166177ef5f06d3da81e4f99993e90
- Affected versionversion=6fa01ccd883021105e9f8af7d04b9f156fa3494a <75e4a3e62531738c124c8555a626426fca29d392
- Affected versionversion=6fa01ccd883021105e9f8af7d04b9f156fa3494a <a5117e1eccac6ee3bd4aed7cacf8ebcb6b3eb309
- Affected versionversion=6fa01ccd883021105e9f8af7d04b9f156fa3494a <bff8a8e53a6d290bc2777bde36d3cb6317b8463d
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
No CVSS assessment is available in this record.
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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
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Technologies
Your stack
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